Team ONYX: A Time Under the Sun
by Storygazer
Summary: 4 young lads of various origins follow their paths, which eventually converge at Beacon Academy. Before they get there, they fight the forces of evil while dealing with every other insanity that make up their daily lives. OC's will be present with orginal. First fanfic. REVISED Trailer Chapter and will continue in new story, Arriving at Daylight.
1. Xavier,The Free-Spirited Gent

Chapter 1: Xavier, The Free-Spirited Gentleman

A/N: Okay, after revising this, I saw way more mistakes than I remembered making. Thankfully, I spent the time to go back and fix them. Enjoy.

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content.)

* * *

_**The wonders of life cannot be seen by being imprisoned in a cold heart.**_

_**A true adventurer finds the will to be free and understanding of everything that life has to offer**_

Time. The element that defines what mankind has come to know as the past, present and future. As the future holds possibilities for mankind's tomorrow, the present upholds the freedom of choice used to make those possibilities a reality.

This leaves the past, the sole record of the realities that have existed and passed. As this record grew longer, mankind has decided to give a form to this record, which became a collection we now call 'history.'

Mankind has created a history filled with events of achievements and failures that forged their mark upon the world. Throughout the lost and known history of mankind, legends and stories have been passed down to new generations, in hopes of preserving the treasures of the past.

However, in an unknown period of time came the appearance of Grimm, the creatures of darkness given birth by the void. Through their birth, these creatures have shrouded the lands in which mankind has treaded, thus beginning a struggle that went beyond what mankind has ever faced. As the darkness ravaged mankind of itself and all its creations, the records of history has become lost as well, thus making mankind lose any recollection of its past self.

With the records lost and the void of darkness growing ever larger, mankind's future grew smaller in return. Soon, it seemed inevitable that mankind would be devoured, thus ceasing its existence on this cruel world.

Despite the inevitable, mankind has held onto a flicker of hope, always lighting the way in the dimmest days and darkest nights. This small flicker was soon fanned into a flame, blazing a path to the miracles that created the events that will come to be known as, 'The Rising Dawn.'

During this event, mankind's ingenuity created the tools needed to fight back against the darkness, which has come to be known as Dust. With a new source of power in hand, mankind was able to fight with renewed strength against this powerful darkness.

As the battles grew longer and intense over time, mankind was able to reach a standstill against the Grimm's overwhelming force. Hope was rising amongst the many that fought, and soon, another miracle took place in the greatest battles to have existed in the conflict.

In five of the locations around the world, the Grimm has attacked in a force much larger and more powerful than ever before. Within these conflicts, a new form of mankind, named Risen, with powerful abilities appeared amongst their kin in their time of need.

Together, they were able to shine through the darkness and reclaim the lands they have lost and the right to live. As mankind paved a path to a new era of peace, life and civilization flourished around the world. Mankind was once again free to live for a brighter tomorrow.

As a new history took form and mankind restored itself with newfound strength, remnants of the struggle started to pass away. Soon, it became part of the past within the newly created annals of history, followed by the more current records of the progress that mankind has made since with their new treasures in hand. As the events of the old passed away and the new era was given definition, so has a new darkness, rising from the shadows of the dawn that has become twilight.

Although mankind has brought forth their guardians and tools against this threat, the Grimm still stalks the land, alongside a new evil that is unseen and unheard. With these dark elements rising in strength, mankind may soon face another tribulation in this new era. Will this perhaps be enough to counteract the growing evil, or will the darkness succeed in the task it has failed to do long ago?

* * *

"_A collection called history?" What a lousy description. Could have saved me the agony by skipping to the third paragraph of your conclusion."_

Tossing the book to the side, the shirtless, violet-haired male laid against the wall while sitting on a bed. As his blue eyes looked out the window next to him, the morning sun lit over the horizon of the smoking city walls and shined over multiple pointed buildings.

In the middle of these buildings, there was a larger pointed building towering over the rest, which the male has come to know as the office of the city's mayor. The tower was one of the famous landmarks of the city of the Librarium, home to many people seeking knowledge in the academic institutions and archives.

As the male kept his sight on the building, he suddenly became blinded by the sun's glare. He slid down against the wall to lie on the bed and avoid the blinding light, while trying to tolerate the distant sounds of explosions and crashes.

Bored, the young man reached under the covers, took out a red handgun, and started twirling it around with his fingers. As the gun twirled, he marveled at its long barrel attached to a revolver cylinder that could hold six bullets. Taking one second to stop, the male popped open the top and slid out the magazine and examined the insides to find them empty. Reclosing the two compartments, Xavier resumed spinning them with no success in satisfying his boredom.

"I came all this way just to read a piece of crap. The four-star rating on that book should measure my level of boredom rather than the quality of its content."

Sighing from dissatisfaction, the male continued, "So much for pulling an all-nighter. I should have kept Jimmy Taylor's version of the story, rather than swap it for this crummy story."

Before the male continued to murmur more complaints about the book, a phone started to ring in the pockets of his shorts. Taking time off his quiet tirade, he took out the phone with one hand while twirling his handgun with his other hand

Activating the phone, he answered, "Hello. This is Xavier, mercenary extraordinaire. How can I be of service," while twirling the gun into the air.

As he listened to what sounded like a feminine voice on the other line, Xavier caught the falling gun and placed it next to an identical, black handgun on a table beside his bed. By the time the voice stopped, Xavier smiled and replied, "Alright, I'll take the job. So all I need to do is nab the guys who created the ruckus at Club Fantastic? Okay, I'll have them by noon."

Reaching out to grab his clothes from the chair next to his bed, Xavier continued to listen to the caller, whose voice sounded frantic at this point. When the voice stopped talking to wait for Xavier's reply, he was already putting on a dark-blue jacket over the black shirt that had the insignia of a clock on it.

"So you say that I should cooperate with the local police? Relax, I'll be fine. You shouldn't worry too much about me. How do you think I have the reputation that made you consider calling me in the first place?"

Finishing with that remark, Xavier was fully dressed in jeans and a pair of black tennis shoes. As he put on a black cloak that covered his body and was in the process of equipping his handguns, the voice on the phone sounded even more frantic and started to speak in a blur.

To a regular person's ears, only the words, 'mass destruction' and 'property damage,' would be audible amongst the rest, but Xavier kept nodding, seemingly understanding every spoken word.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, I understand the situation is a little rough. And no, I will not need to wait for any help to arrive later, especially if they are Hunters or Huntresses. I can take care of this myself, so there is no need for worry."

As he started to feel curious about the voice, Xavier asked, "By the way, who do I owe the pleasure of taking this call from?"

When several pants formed words over the phone, Xavier replied, "Well Ms. Mayor. Don't worry. I'll try to keep damage at a minimum and prevent any citizens from being harmed. And the criminals will be fully restrained. Happy?"

As Xavier's finger hovered over the "off" button, he added over the phone, "And madam, I would love to have some lunch at the Garden Café near your office to negotiate the prize for this mission. Would that be fine?"

Stammers were heard over the phone as Xavier started heading out the door of his hotel room. Before the caller could give a reply, Xavier replied, "Well, I can always wait for an answer when I call you again, Ms. Mayor. Until then, stay beautiful and look forward to the epilogue of my assignment."

Hitting the "off" button, Xavier hurried out of the hotel building and went towards the direction of where Club Fantastic was at.

"_This should be interesting. A lone hero rushing off to defend the homeland of its beautiful leader. Sounds like a mission worth doing, although all clichés of these situations usually involve an ugly villain. Well, not all jobs are meant to be enjoyable, that is until I see the gorgeous face of the mayor smiling at me for a job well done."_

Grinning from the thought, Xavier dashed through the streets of the city, while passing a nearby holographic monitor. The screen showed a man standing near a scene littered with damaged vehicles and buildings.

"For today's breaking news, an unknown group has disabled and destroyed a part of the city wall's automated defense system and infiltrated the innards of Chapter 5. The district's law enforcements are doing their best to contain the situation, but they have been pushed by the invading force that is now holding a base at Club Fantastic. For the safety of nearby residents, please stay away from Chapter 5 until the situation has been dealt with."

Ignoring the monitor and keeping his pace towards his chaotic destination, Xavier saw that he passed by a flower shop that was showing a sale on some beautiful flowers.

"_Hmmm, I wonder if there's time afterwards to clean-up before I meet with the mayor. I should probably get some flowers. Hopefully, it'll be enough to distract her from any unsightly features that I get from this job."_

* * *

After the phone abruptly hung up, Bridgette Lexicon Vermillion ended up staring at the phone in utter amazement for a few moments before hanging up the phone herself. Pulling the back of her brown robe forward to sit on a large chair, Bridgette revolved around to look out of the window to again see the town section, Chapter 5, smoking.

Feeling nervous from the sight of the smoke, Bridgette pulled a strand of her shoulder-length red hair behind her ear as she started to recite a beautiful poem from memory. After several seconds of reciting the piece, she felt herself calm down and remember to smooth out her red skirt and dress shirt for any wrinkles.

During her entire life at the Librarium, Bridgette has never seen the peaceful town have serious issues with criminals, especially during her past few days as a temporary mayor. Then out of nowhere, these intruders came in and disrupted the peace; even going as far as destroying large portion of the city's WAD, Wall of Automated Defense.

Now, the intruders have set up a base of operations and have been looting the surrounding buildings, especially the knowledge centers holding vital information on Dust and other sensitive information. Even worse, sightings of Grimm gathering near the damaged walls started to put the entire city under sheer panic.

If things weren't bad enough, Bridgette felt terrible from thinking that she has unintentionally sent a man on a suicide mission by asking him to handle the invaders at their stronghold.

"Umm, excuse me. Secretary Nguyen? Will we be able to mobilize our forces in time to assist the mercenary on his mission? And have we made contact with anybody else who is willing to help us?"

Turning around, she saw a black-haired woman who was on a computer, busy monitoring its screen while typing on the keyboard. Wearing a clean business dress with her hair kept in a bun, the woman has maintained her usual well-kept appearance, despite the recent events putting her under stressful work.

Not hearing a response from her, Bridgette decided to wait until she was ready to respond. To Bridgette's surprise, the black-haired woman started banging her fists against the keyboard in frustration.

After a couple of hits, she massaged her temples while answering, "No, Mayor. The communications center has notified us that it's still down and will need more time before it will be back up. Also, the law enforcements are still treating their wounded from the recent attack, and the remaining forces are needed at the hole in order to prevent any wild Grimm from attacking the citizens."

Horrified with the situation, Bridgette felt the distress within her grow as she cried, "Oh dear. What am I going to do? I knew I should have waited for more assistance before making that call. In fact, I should have seen this coming. Why couldn't I see it coming, Orca?"

Feeling tears well up in her brown eyes, Bridgette looked at her friend and secretary, Orca Nguyen, who was just finishing up typing something on her computer. Feeling terrible for Bridgette's state of despair, Orca walked over to where Bridgette was at and started to pat her head.

"There, there, Bridgette. You shouldn't stress over every little thing that goes wrong. Our situation is pressing us to find immediate help. Finding a capable fighter in our town is really lucky on our part."

Trying not to cry, Bridgette focused on the comfort that her friend was providing while hugging her waist.

"However, there are some things you need to consider before you even shed a single tear."

Sniffling from her tears, Bridgette asked, "Wha-what do mean?"

Taking both of Bridgette's cheeks in her hands, Orca started to squeeze with all of the force she could muster on said cheeks.

As the punishment was taking place, Orca cried out, "First, your duty requires that you address me by my professional title! For one of the smartest people in the Librarium, you can forget one of the most important details of your job!"

After a couple of seconds filled with Bridgette crying in pain and Orca being vigilant in her punishment, Orca finally let go. Taking a step back, she viewed her handiwork of imprinted fingerprints visible on Bridgette's cheeks.

Rubbing her cheeks to try and rid the pain, Bridgette cried out, "Why do you keep doing that? Can't you see the past 181 times you have done this has been meaningless?"

Feeling annoyed with the comment, Orca replied, "Well, 52 of those times have been effective, despite the need to repeat those actions. Remember how I rid you of that ridiculous habit where you kept drinking before you accidentally -."

"Okay, I get it. Please stop, before someone hears you."

As the pain passed from her cheeks and the tension of the childish argument went down, Bridgette closed her eyes and sighed before asking, "So do you think he can do it? Defeat both the man who single-handedly took out our automated security system and the rest of the invaders?"

Looking out of the office's large window, Orca answered, "I'm not too sure, since that will be an incredible challenge. However, that was the second point I was going to make earlier."

While viewing the smoke that was rising from Chapter 5, she continued, "That young mercenary is Xavier Excelsior. He's the one who was rumored to have dealt with some of the strife in the eastern lands, and at such a young age."

Confused at the given information, Bridgette asked, "So how would that reputation be of any assurance that he can deal with the situation and come out of this alive?"

Shaking her head with a smile, Orca replied, "I'm surprised that you haven't heard of this man. We're very fortunate to have him. If it's him, he can definitely handle the situation with his skill in-."

Before Orca could continue, the computer that Orca was using beeped and displayed an icon of an incoming message. Moving up to the monitor, Orca read the contents and seemed to look delighted at one point, until she frowned while reading the end of the message.

Looking at Bridgette, Orca said, "Mayor, you should be happy to know that someone from Beacon Academy has arrived to help us. And even better, our wonderful leader is with that person as well," continued Orca, with sarcasm dripping from the last part of her statement.

As Bridgette started to form a wide smile, she saw Orca offering her a cup of water with an emotionless face. Taking the water, Bridgette was confused by her friend's sudden change in attitude.

She ended up choking on the water when Orca stated, "And for my third point, you should always keep a calm composure as the mayor of this city. This should apply, even when dealing with a mercenary who has the nerve to ask you out on a date during a job offer."

* * *

Inside the building known as Club Fantastic, there were people in black suits and bowler hats moving around everywhere. Carrying boxes and books towards the back of the club, they placed all of the items into large trucks that were waiting at a large opening located in the back.

These people, also known as the intruders of the Librarium, were bustling about, trying to get their current task done in order to complete their mission. As their work continued, a whole different situation was occurring in a different part of the club.

"Are you kidding me? Why is none of the good booze in this place?"

A rough-looking, middle-aged man in a white shirt and green jacket was looking through club's only bar stand, hoping to find some alcohol. Unfortunately, the only alcoholic beverages he could find were wines with names that he couldn't recognize, let alone read them since they seem to be in a different language.

Feeling frustrated, the man ran a hand through his black unkempt hair. He took out a drinking flask from his brown pants and drank some of its contents to bring down the tension in his mind.

When he finished, he grabbed a frightened, bound bartender who was at his right and asked in a loud voice, "Did you hear me? Where is the #$%^ing beer!? How can any club not have the good stuff, especially when this is the only club in this ENTIRE CITY!?"

Getting no answers from the frightened bartender, the angry man raised a fist, getting prepared to vent his entire frustration out on the poor bartender.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed the fist before it could make its descent.

"Wildman, when you were asked to do this operation, I believe that getting drunk on the job was not part of the objective. Do you agree?" said a cold voice whose owner kept a tight grip on the fist.

The man known as Wildman looked over his shoulder and was about to give a retort, until he stopped himself and stuttered, "Uh, no sir. I don't remember doing something stupid like that."

Wildman saw a tall, dark figure loomed over him while wearing black clothes that are adorned in grey-colored, metal plates. The figure's cloth-covered head gave a long stare at Wildman through its eye slits, never looking away as his hand's grip increased in strength.

"Listen well, Wildman. I will not allow you to resume your 'wild' ways until I have left the premises. My mission may be complete, but my presence here means that you will act as I see fit. Do you understand?"

When Wildman didn't give an immediate answer, the dark figure kept twisting the fist until a cracking noise started to become audible around the wrist.

In painful agony, Wildman yelped, "Yes, I understand. Now please let go, you're going to break my wrist!"

Releasing his grip, the dark figure continued to look down on Wildman, who began to inspect his wrist to see if anything was broken. During the inspection, the figure said, "You're lucky that you're needed to finish the remainder of this operation. Otherwise, I would have been willing to make my point with a more fitting end."

As he turned around to leave, the dark figure continued, "Make sure that the rest of the men finish loading the rest of the holo-books and resources into the trucks. When you're done, follow through the exit I make during my departure with the other half of our forces and plunder.

Walking to the store's back exit, the figure continued, "You should not have any trouble for at least the next hour, so packing the materials should be your top priority. Meet at the rendezvous point when you're done; they will expect everything to be there, including the package. Do you understand?"

Looking up from his complete inspection, Wildman said, "Y-yes, I'll be sure everything goes according to plan. You can count on me."

Seemingly satisfied with that statement, the dark figure kept walking with sight set in front of him. When he was out of sight, Wildman gave a sigh of relief, knowing that the most dangerous man among them has left.

Standing up from the ground, Wildman decided to watch the preparations, while mentally noting that he needs to go find some real drinks later. By the time he arrived on the high platform of the club, he was greeted with the sight of his men standing at ready, doing no other activities.

One of the men at the front came out and announced, "Wildman sir, we have finished the preparations for departure. What should we do now?"

Bewildered, Wildman kept looking around to see if anything was missing while asking, "You're done already? Isn't this one hour ahead of the schedule?"

Scratching his head, the same man who made the report replied, "Yes, it seems that some of the buildings we raided already had the materials ready for transport. All of the trucks are filled, so we can depart at any time."

Taking this turn of events into consideration, Wildman started to grin at what he saw as an opportunity to have fun.

Looking straight at the men, Wildman announced, "Men, as your smart and kind leader, I see that you have all worked hard to make this operation complete faster than what a pack of jackals do with leftover meat. For hard work, there is always a reward at the end. Would all of you happen to know what that is?"

As the men gave each other confusing stares, Wildman jumped down from the platform and onto a nearby table while shouting, "PAAAAARTY! We have a DJ, we have a dance floor, and we have all of the food and crappy drinks to make the next hour something to enjoy, rather than suffer from this slave labor. Wouldn't all of you agree?"

When all of the men gave a shout of approval, Wildman, with his own shout of excitement, jumped up and crashed the table beneath him with a green light enveloping his body. Raising his head from the spot, he shouted, "Someone get on the DJ, let's get something good going. And nothing slow, we need the next hour to be filled with excitement."

As everybody started to scatter around and start the party, Wildman noticed that one of the men in an unfamiliar brown suit didn't move. Instead, he gave Wildman a glare while standing still with arms crossed.

Not liking the person's attitude, Wildman started walking up to the person while saying, "Hey, if you have a problem, then say it now. Otherwise, stop giving me that lo-."

Stopping in mid-sentence, Wildman noticed that it wasn't a man, but a young woman that he has never seen before. As the woman stood at her spot, she kept giving him a scowl with piercing brown eyes and bits of light-blue hair poking out of the bowler hat she was wearing.

Although her male clothes threw off his judgment, Wildman was able to realize her gender after seeing some….other features up close. In fact, she didn't look half-bad, especially when the suit seemed to look appealing with her other traits.

As if on cue with the thought, the woman replied, "If you're done checking me out, I think you should reconsider your decision. This can't be right, relaxing in the middle of enemy territory. Most would even say it's suicidal; I would just say you're an idiot."

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Wildman ended up giving the woman a glare of his own and replied, "Look, lady. You're obviously new here, since you don't know about the abuse my bosses give me and my men on errands like this. And as the appointed leader of this current operation, I say we need this break. So you're just going to have to sit back and relax for the next hour, like the rest of the guys here."

Walking up next to the woman, he started to place one arm around her. In a lower, smoother voice, he said, "Or, you can hang out with me and maybe, we can get something fun going for just the two of us."

Before Wildman could get his arm around the woman's neck, he felt something tap against his thighs. Looking down, he found a short, double-sided blade protruding from the woman's hand near the area where his "family jewels" would be at. Looking back up, he found another similar blade placed near his neck, looking ready to slice it if he made the wrong move.

In a cold voice, the woman replied, "If you try to touch me, I swear that I'll eliminate your chances of having 'fun' ever again."

For the second time that day, Wildman found himself at the mercy of another frightening figure. Fearing that any delay of an answer would end like a recent situation, he immediately replied, "Y-yeah, I get it. So can you get that blade from my neck and balls? I kind of want to stay alive to enjoy this party."

Taking a deep breath and retracting the blades back into her suit's sleeves, the woman started to head towards the bar. As she walked away, she replied, "If you need me for a fight that the men can't handle, just call for Khal at the bar, and I'll be ready. Otherwise, don't call for anything else."

Looking at her retreating back, Wildman checked his neck and bottom to make sure that no damage was done. After his checkup, he found himself stressed from being so uptight in this operation, no thanks to Khal and that dark figure from before.

Thinking more about the situation, Wildman remembered that the bosses hired these people because they wanted this operation to succeed. Trying to invade a city, especially one that has connections with places like Beacon Academy, was definitely not a feat that should be pulled off unless the trade-off for doing it is high.

Even worse, Wildman heard rumors of how the bosses considered this the first of many missions, which means he's going to deal with even tougher situations than the one right now.

"_Aw #$^& it, it's not really something for me to worry about now. I should probably take a nap; try to relax when I can."_

With this in mind, he took out his drinking flask and headed over to an area full of furniture that made excellent beds.

"_I might as well take a nap for a bit. If I'm going to party like an animal, this king of the jungle needs his beauty sleep."_

* * *

"Wow, never knew the place could look so small. Why would any invading force choose to occupy a small space like this one?"

Walking towards a small, blue building with the words, 'Club Fantastic,' on the sign located at the top, Xavier couldn't imagine why a crowd of people would want to be cramped in a small amount of space.

Scanning the area while hiding in the alleyway, Xavier found several men patrolling the entrance. More were also at nearby buildings, surveying the entrance from above.

Taking his next set of actions into consideration, Xavier took out both of his handguns from the holsters that were on the back of his pants. Placing one handgun in front of him with the muzzle of the other handgun placed right behind it, both guns suddenly started morphing into a different shape. Within three seconds, both guns morphed into a regular rifle that sported a red barrel and a black stock.

"_Okay, so who is the first to witness a Midsummer Night's Dream?"_

Taking the newly formed gun in one hand and adjusting the aim with the other, Xavier stuck out his tongue as he finished his preparations. After taking a couple of moments to determine which targets he would shoot next, Xavier took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

* * *

A couple of seconds later, Xavier walked past a bunch of the unconscious guards, twirling the reformed handguns back into his holsters.

"Well, that wasn't too tough. You boys can relax until the law enforcements come and take all of you in. I'll just help myself into the club while you do that, so thanks. "

Heading towards the entrance, Xavier pushed through the doors and found an unexpected sight beyond them.

"…_Wow. All of those cliché, mystery novels were right. You can't judge a book by its cover."_

In front of him was a large open space that extended further below into the ground, much further than it looked outside the building. At the bottom of the large space, there was a dance floor occupied by men dancing to the music that the DJ was playing on one of the several platforms hanging on the ceiling.

Closing the doors behind him, Xavier could have sworn that he heard a loud crash outside. However, the loud music and the shock from the recent surprise made Xavier ignore it and enter deeper into the club.

Looking around as he walked down a flight of stairs, Xavier saw an area to his right that was full of furniture, one of them occupied by a sleeping, middle-aged man. Towards his left, he saw a small bar with shelves full of drinks, but strangely, only two people were occupying that area.

Taking one more look around, Xavier didn't see anything that fit the descriptions of the person that the mayor has warned him about. This meant that Xavier was free to carry out his job without having to worry about too much difficulty, as long as nobody takes notice of his presence.

Suddenly, Xavier started to feel a little woozy, making him teeter and totter for a bit while he was walking.

"_Wow, didn't expect the all-nighter to hit me so soon. I should probably freshen up with a nice drink before I start."_

Arriving at the bar, Xavier took a seat next to a person wearing a brown suit. Looking over the bar stand, he saw a bartender cleaning up a mess of broken bottles on the floor.

"Excuse me, bartender? Do you happen to have some red wine that I can drink?"

Looking up from the mess, the bartender replied, "Well, let's see. You look a little too young to drink any of wines we have here, so how about some apple cider?"

A little offended at the bartender's comment, Xavier retorted, "And what makes you say that I'm too young to drink alcohol?"

Shaking his head in annoyance, the bartender replied, "Because I'm familiar with most faces around here, and this is the first time that I've seen yours. So either take the cider or beat it. I've got a job to do."

After hearing the bartender's tone, Xavier realized that any further argument is not going to increase his chances to drink some of the red wine he sought. So with reluctance, Xavier accepted the glass that the bartender gave him and drank the contents, unsatisfied with only the sugary taste.

"Excuse the bartender; he just had a rough time with one of the men here. He's going to be in a bad mood while he cleans up the mess, so try not to bother him too much."

Hearing the low feminine voice coming from the other resident, Xavier turned and said, "Why, thank for such an enlightening explanation. I don't know how much more obvious…"

Xavier stopped short as he eyed the person, realizing that it was a woman after she took off her hat. She had brown eyes and a bobbed, light-blue hair style. Despite having some rough features and wearing male attire, Xavier could see that she still had other striking features that defined her own style of beauty.

Enjoying the presence of a woman in the club full of men, Xavier suddenly felt obligated to turn the frown she was having upside-down.

"_Maybe she could leave before I start cleaning up_. _I think it's time to pull out the moves, James Bourne style__."_

Focusing his full attention to the woman, Xavier continued, "I mean, I should have seen how obvious it was when I came in here. The next time I come to a bar, I'll be sure to ask the bartender for some wine before he gets mauled by customer reviews."

Not hearing any reaction to his small joke, Xavier decided to take a more direct approach.

"My name is Excelsior. Xavier Excelsior. And what would your name be?"

Taking a drink from the glass that is in front of her, the woman replied, "None of your business. And try to keep in mind that you are not at your post, so make sure you do your job right after your drink."

Realizing that the woman thinks that he's one of the guards on break, Xavier decided to play along, hoping to keep his cover.

"Well Ms. 'None of your business,' one of the guys outside thought I needed to take a break for the rest of the time that we're here. Makes sense, because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I couldn't even wear my suit before the whole shebang happened, like all the other guys did. Yeah, like everybody else."

The woman didn't seem to take note of Xavier's nervous remark. It looked more like she was ignoring as she took more drinks from her glass while keeping her gaze straight ahead of her.

"_Okay, that went well. Now how am I going to make progress here? Better yet, how am I supposed to get her attention? And what is she looking at? The wall can't be that interesting."_

Following her gaze to the wall, Xavier felt a light bulb go off as he saw the solution in the form of an item stored in a wall cabinet.

"Hey, bartender. Can I have two glasses of the white bottle that's in that cabinet over there?"

Looking at the cabinet that Xavier was pointing at, the bartender saw that what he wanted was a white bottle with the Schnee Dust Company logo on the top of its label. It's perhaps one of the most expensive non-alcoholic drinks that the club had to offer.

"Sorry kid, but that drink is a little pricey. Even if it's something I can serve you, I don't think you're able to affor-."

Before he could finish his comment, the Xavier flashed five, high-quality lien chips out and placed them in front of the bartender. Xavier placed another lien chip into the bartender's shirt pocket while saying, "This should be enough, right? Also, here's a nice tip that you can keep if you stop talking to me like I'm a child; I'm only seventeen you know."

Without another fuss, the bartender took the bottle out of the cabinet, poured it into two glass cups, and placed the cups and bottle in front of Xavier. Taking one glass in hand, Xavier gestured the woman to take a sip of the other glass.

The woman gazed at Xavier for several seconds before taking the glass. Before she could drink it, she saw that Xavier raised his own glass for a toast, as his way of friendship.

The woman gave a small smile before raising her own glass to clink against Xavier's own. As they both took a sip of their drinks, Xavier found his to give a really sweet taste and produce a chilling sensation in his stomach, as if he just swallowed a large block of ice.

As the sensation passed away, the woman looked at Xavier and raised her glass again.

"You just need to know that my name is Khal. And if you don't mind, I would like to get another glass of that Weiss Apfel, at least while I'm still in a good mood."

Smiling at her response, Xavier replied, "Sure, Miss Khal. And you don't have to worry; this bottle is my treat for however long it lasts between the both of us.

Xavier gladly poured her and him another glass of the drink as he enjoyed the sight of Khal's mouth forming a small smile. Xavier found a smile of his own growing as he planned on how he was going to make their time more enjoyable.

"_Oh yeah, almost forgot that I need to get her out of here…. which I'll do a little bit later."_

* * *

Wildman was still slumbering while lying in a sprawled manner across the entire couch. As he laid there with figure slightly rising from each breath he has taken, one of his men came up and started to shake Wildman awake.

After a couple more shakes, the man started to shake Wildman harder while saying in a nervous voice, "Wi-Wildman, s-sir, you need to wake up. We have a situation."

Suddenly opening his eyes, Wildman woke up, coughing and snorting while flailing his limbs around in an attempt to stand up. During his flailing, he accidentally hit the man right in the face, making him shoot into a chair that tumbled back from the force.

Standing up, Wildman walked over to the man and helped him up while saying, "Sorry, you know what happens when I wake up. This mighty Ursa needs a stretch before he rumbles on this earth, you know?"

Hearing this comment made the near unconscious man think, "_Or flail like a gorilla. Crap, he almost sent Carl to the hospital with the last wake-up call. I'm even lucky to be conscious for that matter."_

Yawning with arms outstretched, Wildman asked, "So what's the situation? Do we not have enough beer to go around? I had the same problem, but unfortunately, we don't have a manager to $#%^& to since it looked like he ran away as soon as we started ransacking the place."

While shaking his head with a hand rubbing his bruised cheek, the man said, "No sir, some of the men have found the outside guards unconscious. We think someone has infiltrated the place, but we haven't found anybody suspicious yet."

As he became alert from hearing this, Wildman ordered, "Well, don't just stand there! Grab some of the guys and start searching. Make sure you don't disturb the party while you're at it. I don't want anything to mess up this relaxing atmosphere."

Confirming the order with a salute, the man ran off to carry out his given assignment. With the man gone, Wildman started to survey the area.

As both of his eyes scanned over the bar area, Wildman saw that Khal was over at one seat while sitting next to a person that he has never seen before. The sight started to look strange as he saw that Khal started to smile as the person next to her kept yapping away.

"_And who the hell is that? Doesn't look like one of my men. Definitely doesn't act like one, especially if he can make that #$%# laugh."_

As he felt frustrated by both the strange scene and the fact that nobody else took notice of the new person, Wildman started stomping over to the bar area.

"_Yeesh, how can nobody see the guy? He has a freaking cloak on; even I can see that through sleep depravation. And that #$&%, how is SHE not able to see something wrong with this? As soon as I get the guy, I'm firing her ass out of my group."_

* * *

"They're not standard issue, since I created these guns. They're the left and right hemisphere of my entire world. In fact, they're based on a design that I found called VARI, which I think stands for **V**ariable **A**ccessible **R**igorous **I**nstruments."

By this time, Xavier and Khal were talking about random topics. Well, it's more like Xavier was talking and Khal was listening to what he said, with the occasional 'oh' and 'I see' being her only verbal answers.

During one point of Xavier's ramblings, he noticed that Khal was looking at the handguns in his holsters. Taking them out and letting her see them, he noticed that Khal started to take more interest in the weapons over anything else he has said so far.

"The red one is named Dante while the black one is named Vergil. The names are based off of the same mythological heroes who defended the southern part of the world from the more sinister forms of Grimm rumored to be sent from the Underworld. Well, that is according to legend."

Taking a moment to look at the weapons, Khal, not having said a word during the entire explanation, said, "Impressive. These weapons definitely have a much better design than the wrist blades I have. I haven't even thought about giving them names."

Flicking out both sleeves with her wrists, two silver blades protruded, shining under the bar's dim lights.

"Whoa, now how do you get them to come out like that? Is there some contraption in your suit that allows the blades to work like that?"

Slowly nodding her head, Khal rolled a part of her sleeve down and revealed to Xavier a silver frame that held a metallic device from where the blade was ejected from. Covering a part of her arm, the frame's length continued down into the rest of her sleeve, implying that the frame is covering more of Khal's body.

As Khal rolled her sleeve back up, Xavier said, "Well, the design looks pretty interesting. And hey, if you ever need a muse of creativity, I would happily take the role over a nice quiet meal at the restaurant that's down a couple of doors. I hear that they're giving out some free meals for a limited amount of time."

Khal gave Xavier another stare for a couple of moments, seemingly contemplating on his offer. As she kept staring, Xavier started to feel a little worried about the worst case where she rejects his offer and stays.

"_Man, she likes to stare a lot when she's making decisions._"

"That…that sounds nice, but we can't go; we have a job to do here."

Feeling a little down from the rejection, Xavier checked the clock and decided that it was time to start his assignment. Feeling some dread about his next course of actions, Xavier started to become unusually silent as he thought a little more on his decision.

"_Well, screw precaution. Might as well see how the flow goes on this one."_

"Well, I'm not a real employee of this group, and I am guessing neither are you, mercenary of Burn. So why couldn't we just leave when we're both on an unreliable contract?"

Right after saying this comment, Xavier found Khal extending her wrist blade against his throat. As the blade placed itself on the skin of his neck, Xavier saw a pair of brown eyes again, this time giving a look that could have frozen any wild animal in their tracks.

"I thought it was strange when you came in with that unusual attire. Now, I'm certain; you're not someone who works for this group, are you?"

In a lower, menacing voice, Khal hissed, "And how the hell do you know that I'm from Burn? Nobody is supposed to know that I'm from there."

Unfazed by his current situation, Xavier replied in a calm manner, "That blade of yours had the symbol of a lightning bolt under it. No other manufacturer makes a symbol like that, unless they're from Burn."

Grabbing with two of his fingers onto Khal's blade, Xavier continued, "And I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but not a lot of female fighters are able to come into possession of a body frame like yours. That is unless, you're from Burn's famous 'wrecking ball' crew, am I right Miss Khal?

Seeing the shock on her face confirm his comments, Xavier started to whisper, "Look, I don't know why you're here in the first place, but you need to get out. I'm going to make things unpleasant here soon, and the last person I want to fight is a woman like you."

Xavier started to see Khal shake with rage after the last part of the comment. Suddenly, Xavier heard her say, "I don't have anywhere else to go. This job is my only way to earn a living."

Before anything else could be said or done, they heard a voice say, "Well, isn't this a surprise. Now, what would an uninvited guest be doing with the only attractive 'man' in this entire club?"

Taking a look around, both Khal and Xavier found themselves surrounded by some of the club's residents aim machine guns at their position. Some of the closer men started wearing spike-covered gauntlets and raise them at ready.

The ugly, middle-aged man from earlier came out of the crowd of men, grinning at the sight of the advantage he has over the situation.

In a loud voice, he said, "So, two young brats now having a lover's quarrel. It's good that I'm here to break up the hormone-filled interaction you two were about to have. I would hate to have the bartender clean up whatever mess you two would make on this bar stand."

Finding the man's words unsettling, Khal said, "No, it wasn't anything like that, Wildman. I was just asking him to leave this place."

"Leave? Now, how could we just let somebody like him leave this place? I mean, look at those handguns. You don't find dangerous-looking weapons like those every day, now do you?"

Transforming his smirk into a sly grin, Wildman continued, "Aww, don't tell me that you were really looking forward to a quickie before we left the place. You could have just asked me, and I would have shown you a much better time than this limp dick."

Feeling repulsed by the man's language, Xavier said, "Well, just to be clear, she rejected my offer for dinner and put a blade to my throat when I asked her to leave her job."

Feeling Khal's gaze at him intensify, Xavier only shrugged as Wildman said, "Well, you kids nowadays have some sick fetishes going on. How am I supposed to know that this isn't something like that?"

Xavier saw that the men around him laugh at the remark and felt the blade at his neck being pulled away. Looking at Khal's face, Xavier noticed that Khal was trying to cover a part of her red cheeks as she put her hat back on her head.

Trying not to get too angry for seeing a woman in shame, Xavier said, "Alright, alright, let's all settle down. It isn't polite to imply something so shameful when we can settle this in a more respectable manner."

Recovering from his laughter, Wildman said, "Whatever kid. I had fun, but we have to go soon. This party needed some entertainment anyway, so thanks for volunteering to be our piñata. I had nothing to punch a hole into for this whole entire party."

Wildman suddenly reared his entire right arm back. As a green glow covered the arm, Wildman unleashed a punch right into where Xavier was sitting at. In an explosion of flying wood and remnants of Xavier's seat, the punch crashed through the majority of the bar stand, making the bartender stare in horror at the loss.

"Whoops, sorry. I forgot that we all need to take turns. Oh well, this piñata wasn't much fun to play with in the first place."

By the time his blow went through, Wildman saw that his target was gone, with no trace of him left in sight.

"Wh-what? Where did he go?"

"Right behind you, old man."

Looking to his right, Wildman found a double-barrel shotgun aimed at his chest. The next thing he knew, he heard a loud explosion, followed by the view of a smoking shotgun getting farther and farther away.

Wildman was sent flying in the air towards the other side of the club, with smoke trailing from his mid-section. After crashing into the furniture in the resting area, people could see that Wildman was unconscious from the pain of the fall.

Shocked from the sight of this spectacle, everybody turned their attention back to Xavier, whose arms and legs were glowing blue.

Taking hold of a shotgun with a black stock and dark-red barrel, Xavier smirked as he pumped his shotgun with its forend, reloading it.

"Okay, so who's next?"

_To be continued…._

* * *

**A/N: **

For whoever read this chapter, thanks for reading. Also, thanks for anybody who left a comment.

This story will try to follow along the series the best it can. It will also involve some inspired (okay, maybe copied) elements and characters from different sources of entertainment (not just anime).

There is also a slight possibility that this story might diverge from the original series' plot if it goes that way, so please keep that in mind.

For those of you who can tell, I ended up retyping this chapter as the first amongst the rest. As I revise, I'll also add references to help clear any misunderstandings and add some clarity to the content.

References:

- Jimmy Taylor: It's my attempt at making a male version of the name, Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana. She also did the voice of the introduction in RWBY's first episode. The contents of this chapter's narration were based off of that as well aside from the addition of several new elements.

-James Bourne: Yeah, it's basically a combination of Jason Bourne and James Bond put together. More details on the character will be provided later (maybe), but I do not own the core characters that make up this character.

-Weiss Apfel: means "White Apple" in German. I actually got this idea from Weiss' first name and decided to make it a drink.

-Khal: For anybody who might look up this name to see what it means, you probably won't find it. It's my effort of trying to put in the Korean word for "knife" or "blade." Thought it was appropriate, but I have a backup name that I will use later for it.

-Dante and Vergil (yeah DMC characters): Xavier's guns, have designs that are a combination of a top-break revolver and a pistol's magazines. It might sound insufficient, but more details for their designs will come up later.

Hope to see people continue to read the future chapters, and have a great day.


	2. Home For Now

Chapter 2: Home….For A While

A/N: I saw that Xavier was a little OP, so I toned it down a couple notches. Hope that's enough.

(Disclaimer: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content. I just own the OC's. And I do not own some of the other content that comes from other sources.)

* * *

When everybody on the dance floor saw Wildman fly through the air and land without getting up a couple of seconds later, they knew a fight has begun. With weapons brandished and fighting spirits ignited, all of the men charged at Xavier in order to avenge their fallen leader.

As they left the dance floor, Xavier jumped into the sky and flipped over the group. By the time he landed on the dance floor, everybody saw turned to see that he was behind them, right as they were going up the stairs.

Raising his morphed handguns straight at the men with a grin on his face, Xavier said, "Hey guys, where are you going? The party is right here."

Soon, shots were heard, followed by the view of falling, unconscious men. By the time anybody reached down the stairs, Xavier already had five men down and started to reload his guns.

As Xavier unloaded the handguns' magazines, a small blue light engulfed the magazines as they came out halfway. Xavier reinserted the magazines by pushing them against the side of his legs, then continued his onslaught upon the approaching men.

"Yeesh, I know that it took a bunch of you to pillage a city, but how can there be more of you coming out of nowhere?"

As Xavier unleashed a volley of shots at the group of men chasing after and shooting at him, more seemed to appear and replace the space that was previously occupied by their unconscious comrades.

However, their numbers seemed meaningless as Xavier nimbly dodged each blow and bullet, with the occasional blue light flashing on and off from his body.

When one man was close enough to swing at Xavier, Xavier used the top of one pistol to block the incoming blow, while using the other one to shoot the man unconscious. As another man came up and swung at Xavier, the blow was again blocked by the pistol held upside-down, with the other one used as a hammer to knock the man down.

"What the hell? How can you use a gun like that against a fist?"

Shooting the loud man in the head, Xavier got into a fighting stance with both pistols aimed at ready. Jumping up and vaulting a man into the air with one kick, Xavier said, "It's gun-kata. It's awesome to learn from a book and great to deal with simple mooks like you."

Using his gun-kata and shooting skills, Xavier was able to take out each and every attacker both up close and in a distance, maintaining a steady stream of knock-outs. Soon, the dance floor became littered with bodies around Xavier's feet.

Three men started to charge at Xavier all at once while two more came at his back, hoping that their combined charge will be the end for Xavier. As he looked around, Xavier summoned his shotgun, which started to glow in the same blue light that was now surrounding his hands.

And in a move that would be too fast to be seen by the average human eye, Xavier unleashed three shots, one that hit the two at his back and two that spread out and hit the trio at his front. As he let out the last shot, Xavier used the force of it to propel himself out of the dance floor and onto the top floor near the entrance.

Trying to take a moment to relax, Xavier heard the sounds of guns being loaded from above. Looking in that direction, Xavier found several of the men occupying the hanging platforms and aiming machine guns at him.

"Eat hot lead, punk."

As they unleashed a storm of bullets onto Xavier's location, smoke started to rise from the bullets hitting the floor. With no intention of stopping their hailstorm of bullets, the men continued to fire, only stopping when they needed to reload.

One of the men took out a missile launcher and fired it into the smoke. The missile hit its target and created an explosion. As the smoke cleared from the explosion, the men saw that the only thing that remained was a large hole with edges dotted by multiple bullet holes.

Feeling triumphant by the apparent demise of their opponent, the men on the platforms started to cheer and congratulate each other. They failed to notice a dark figure stand on one of the platforms near one group of men.

Xavier placed one foot against the railing of the platform, and then propelled himself into the air. As his hands started to glow, Xavier shouted, "Hey fellas, I think you missed a spot."

Looking up, all of the men watched in surprise as Xavier started to spin in the air. As his body kept rotating in the air, Xavier cried out, "**Jackpot!"**

Xavier shot his guns while spinning, unleashing spheres of blue light that descended upon the men. As the spheres exploded upon hitting the platforms, Xavier gracefully landed onto his knee in the dance floor while flipping his hair to the side.

Watching the fireworks that he made on the platforms, Xavier suddenly felt a hand grab one of his ankles. Looking down, Xavier saw that one of the men was still barely conscious while trying to pick up a gun from his side.

"Y-you monster, how could you kill everybody while you're smiling like that? Are you some kind of a demon?"

Raising his handgun, Xavier shot the man in the head, whose eyes rolled towards the back of his head and finally fell unconscious.

"That is a very rude assumption. These shots aren't even made from bullets; they're made out of my Aura. I don't like to shed blood from other human beings, so these are the closest thing I have as a non-lethal weapon. Got it?"

Taking the silence as an answer, Xavier dusted himself off and started to count the number of unconscious men around him.

* * *

Khal couldn't believe the sight that unfolded in front of her. In fact, she still couldn't get over the events that occurred in the past couple of minutes.

Khal has never felt so happy, enraged, embarrassed, and shocked in such a short amount of time, thanks to the arrival of the so-called mercenary.

Now, the same mercenary has not only crashed the party and blasted her leader unconscious, but he wiped out nearly all of the club's residents, save for her and the bartender who ran outside when the fight began.

The most unnerving part about the view was that Xavier was smiling. Even as he blasted each and every man, his smile never faded in the midst of battle.

At this point, Khal was hesitant. She felt infuriated that Xavier knocked out her co-workers out like that, but she also felt grateful, especially when he tried to stick up for her just a few minutes ago.

"_I never imagined that my first legitimate job would also lead to me to a fellow like him. Nobody has talked to me like that, not ever since father died." _

Taking off her cap and suit jacket, Khal adjusted her white shirt jacket and red tie while taking one last drink from the last of the Weiss Apfel. With blades out and her decision made, Khal started walking towards the dance floor.

Even if he is a nice guy, Khal knew that Xavier is now a target she needs to eliminate for the sake of doing her job.

* * *

"_23, 24, 25. Eh, I thought there would be more, but I guess the rest of them left. I hope this doesn't affect my payment from the mayor."_

As he was deep in thought, Xavier didn't take notice of a familiar figure behind him until she shouted, "Hey, you're forgetting one more."

Turning around, Xavier found Khal standing there with her two silver blades at ready. Getting into a fighting stance, Khal had one fist aimed at Xavier while the other was pulled back next to her head.

After a minute of silence, Xavier sighed while saying, "Miss Khal, do we need to do this? Is this job so important that I need to hurt a lady like you?"

Right as Xavier finished speaking, Khal ran straight up to Xavier with her right blade heading towards the middle of Xavier's head. Before it could reach its target, Xavier brought up both pistols and blocked the blow, holding it there to prevent it from reaching his head. Bringing her other hand up, Khal started to push against her attacking arm to put pressure against Xavier's defense.

"Shut up. A 'lady' like me is enough to take you down. Besides, you don't seem to understand that I need to have this job. If I lose it, I can't provide for myself by any better means."

Breaking off from her previous attack, Khal started to unleash a furious combination of punches and slashes unto Xavier, with each trying to strike a lethal blow onto Xavier.

However, Xavier dodged and blocked each blow at the same pace, all the while showing his usual grin. As the fight continued, Xavier asked, "So –whoa – why can't you get a different job? I'm sure that there are tons of jobs that want strong fighters like you, even if you're an immigrant."

Maintaining her rapid pace of attacks, Khal replied, "No, of course it's not that simple. I'm a Burnian; don't you know what that means in every other place that knows us?"

Ducking under Khal's last swing before jumping backwards, Xavier stood up as Khal said, "Everybody thinks we're crazy. When Burn's government decided to pursue some dangerous interests, everybody else started labeling us as monsters, especially after that stupid incident."

Closing her eyes with arms out in front of her, Khal took a deep breath before her hands and blades started to emit a red glow. Crouching down in the same fighting stance she had before, Khal looked as if she was a predator getting ready to pounce on her prey.

Dashing forward with a speed unrivaled by any she had before, Khal became a blur as she once again attempted to strike at Xavier's head.

Xavier suddenly dove to the side, despite the distance between them, with blue light radiating his legs, just as Khal's blade finished slicing through the air. The blade's light suddenly extended, creating a large blade of energy that pierced the wall behind wear Xavier last stood.

As Xavier gaped at the wall that was pierced, he yelped while saying, "Uh, did you somehow extend an energy form of your blade with your Aura?"

Taking no time to reply back, Khal retracted her extended energy blade while using her other arm to unleash another one. Xavier immediately got up just as the energy blade pierced the ground he was sitting on and jumped back as Khal resumed her pursuit.

Soon, both fighters were in the same fight again as before, but this time, Khal's energy blades were slicing through everything that got in its way. Despite Khal's increased speed and lethal attacks, Xavier managed to dodge each attack, despite letting out small pants as the fight dragged on.

Continuing her onslaught, Khal felt frustrated at Xavier's lack of attacks, which made her shout, "Why - won't – you – shoot - me?"

Jumping up towards one of the ruined platforms in a burst of blue light, Xavier shouted back, "It's not my policy to hurt women. That might sound like an insult, but it really is-." Before he could continue, Khal shouted in frustration from hearing the comment and threw both of her arms forward, creating an X-shaped energy blade that extended towards Xavier.

Xavier shouted in surprise at the sudden attack and dove off of the platform. A second later, the entire platform was sliced into pieces that fell into the ground below it.

As Xavier landed on the ground, he turned around and asked, "So aren't you tired yet? I always thought Aura puts a huge a toll on the user's body if used too long."

Now huffing in exhaustion from the last attack with her blade's red light dimming, Khal replied, "I-I just need a few more minutes. That should be enough to take you out."

Looking at Khal's exhausted form with a concerned look, Xavier said, "Aw, come on. Let's end this right now. I can't fight any better than you can."

Putting his weapons away, Xavier continued, "See, does this prove my point? I don't want to fight you, so you should just go back home and let me do my job. I'll even split the pay with you when I'm done, 70 -30. That can get you going, right?"

Khal glared at Xavier as she replied, "No, that's not enough. I don't need any 70%; I need the 100% that comes from this job. And I need to keep this job if I'm going to be able to have a better life."

Struggling to maintain her stance, Khal continued, "And don't try to bribe me like that, especially when I don't even have a home to go back to. I never did, since every other person will just run me out of any place that I live at."

Feeling saddened at the last comment, Xavier scratched his head as he softly said, "Alright, I'm sorry. I know Burnians had it rough, but you make it sound like everybody was treating you worse than the Grimm."

As Xavier took a moment think, he didn't notice that Khal was right in front of him until it was almost too late. With concentration back into focus, Xavier moved back thinking that he had to watch the blades, but he was mistaken as Khal reached up and suddenly grabbed him by the back of his head.

With both hands grasping his head, Khal tried to bring it down into her raised knee. Before the knee struck his head, Xavier managed to raise one foot and use it to stop the knee and move his head to get out of Khal's grasp.

Khal tried to regain her hold, but she couldn't catch Xavier and accidentally tumbled into the ground past Xavier in an exhausted heap.

Picking herself back up, Khal said, "No, not everybody out there is trying to treat each other as humans. That's why we're monsters; we're considered to be something even below the Grimm, to the point where most people would treat us lower than them."

Khal shakily got up and placed her blades back into her fighting position. Taking deep breaths, she said, "But I won't let that stop me. I need to live, otherwise everything else that I did would become pointless."

Khal took a step forward towards Xavier, who threw his arms behind him as he tried to think of a way to stop this fight. As they stood still, a bright green light shined from one direction. Both Xavier and Khal turned, then gasped as they saw a giant wave of green energy spiral towards their location.

* * *

_**10 minutes before**_

Wildman opened his eyes as he heard the sound of a rocket exploding from impact. Struggling to get up with flailing arms, Wildman managed to move the furniture that was on top of him and stand up with a hand on his sore mid-section.

As he stood up, Wildman saw the rest of his men on top of the platforms be demolished by Xavier's attack. He tried to stop him, but his wound from the shotgun blast still hurt, forcing him to support himself on some nearby furniture.

When a loud gunshot echoed in the air, Wildman looked up again to see that Xavier shot one of his men right between his eyes, whose head dropped in front of Xavier's feet. Angered by the sight, Wildman felt his rage start to go out of control, which prevented him from hearing Xavier's explanation about his shots being made out of Aura.

"_N-no, my men. A-all of my men. That kid just came in and took all of us out. Now they're all dead…He's going to pay. THAT LITTLE, GIDDY *&^% IS GOING TO PAY!"_

"Hey, you're forgetting one more."

Looking at where the voice came from, Wildman saw that Khal was lacking her extra apparel and had her blades at ready. After Khal got into a stance, Wildman saw her rush up to Xavier and swing her blades at him.

Feeling his anger subside enough to think clearly, Wildman continued to watch the ensuing battle between Khal and Xavier.

"_Heh, I have to give it to her, she's got guts. Urgh, I wonder if she's good enough to take him out?"_

As the fight continued, things looked favorable for Khal as she was the only one throwing attacks against Xavier, who focused on defending. Victory even seemed assured when Khal activated her Aura and created energy attacks that could have sliced Xavier into pieces.

However, Wildman soon saw that the fight was turning towards Xavier's favor as Khal's attacks started to falter, which was evident from her exhausted form and dimming Aura.

"_Crap, the kid is going to win against the *&$%^. And when he's done with her, he's going to get out of here alive. I can't accept that, no way will I ALLOW THAT."_

Now fueled by his anger, Wildman raised his right arm towards his back with palm aiming up into the air. Concentrating on that spot, Wildman concentrated as energy started to gather into the palm. Soon, it was glowing with green energy that started to spiral around his arm.

"_Yeesh, this thing is a pain to charge when I'm in this state, but I'm almost ready. Once I'm finished, that kid and the useless Burnian are going straight to hell."_

When he felt that his arm had enough energy, Wildman took aim at the dance floor.

"_Now, feast your eyes on this, you brats. This is my '__**Howling Gale;' **__nobody messes with my boys and the king of the jungle."_

Thrusting his arm out forward, a large spiral of green energy was unleashed in a bright light. The green spiral swirled over to where Xavier and Khal were fighting at, growing bigger until it became a wave large enough to envelop the entire dance floor.

The two fighters saw the green spiral headed towards their direction, but it was too late for them to clear the area. The wave reached the dance floor with a loud crash, followed by large explosion of wind and energy that flung most of the broken floor and unconscious men out of the dance floor.

As the attack continued to ravage the dance floor, Wildman smiled at his handiwork.

"_Finally, I did it. The kid and the &^#%& are gone. I hope you men can rest in peace, for I have avenged all of you."_

Looking at the bodies of his men scattered around the club, Wildman saluted them as a way to honor their 'deaths.' Turning around, Wildman walked towards the back entrance while hoping there was still enough time to get out with the truck holding the 'package' that Wildman was ordered to deliver.

"I know you're in a rush to get out of here, but do you really think you're going to get away with this?"

Frozen by a familiar voice that came from the dance floor, Wildman slowly turned around and looked at the dance floor.

As the remnants of his earlier attack cleared from the dance floor, Wildman couldn't believe his eyes. At the center of the destruction, there stood a large black cloak that was spread out and forming a dome-like structure. After several seconds, the cloak started to shrink and lose its shape, unveiling an unconscious Khal, who was in the arms of a very angry Xavier.

* * *

"_That was close. I'm glad I got the cloak up in time. Miss Khal took the brunt of it, but…dang, I really hate to see her like this."_

Putting Khal down on the floor and wrapping his cloak around her body, Xavier slowly looked up at Wildman, the man who would dare harm a lady in Xavier's presence.

Without a word, not even a smile, Xavier's entire body started to glow blue as he walked towards Wildman, with violet hair and clothes flowing from the flow of the released energy.

Wildman felt dread at the sight, yet his pride made him not even consider backing out from the incoming fight. He knew that it was pointless to run anyways because he saw that Xavier's eyes is out for some payback.

As he saw Xavier approach him, Wildman felt the need to blink once. When he finished blinking, he saw that Xavier wasn't there any more, just like the first time.

"_Oh *&^%, I don't even know if I want to ask where he is this time."_

"If you're wondering where I am, I'm right behind you, you piece of filth."

Turning around, Wildman saw that Xavier was sitting comfortably on one of the fallen couches with both legs crossed together and laid out on the table in front of him. As Xavier sat there, he was giving Wildman a feral smirk, one that signaled that things aren't going to end well for Wildman.

Right as he saw the smirk, Wildman's former dread turned into anger again, making him roar as he charged at Xavier. Bringing his left fist up, Wildman threw it down to drive it into Xavier's face.

Xavier ducked beneath the blow, making it crash into the couch that was now behind him. Bringing up one of his pistols, he aimed it underneath Wildman's chin and pulled the trigger.

When the shot hit Wildman's face, he felt his consciousness slip for a moment. Gathering his willpower, Wildman was able to keep himself from falling unconscious. Wildman tried to let out another punch, but Xavier kicked away and let out another kick that slammed into Wildman's gut.

As Wildman staggered back, Xavier raised his second handgun and said, "Well, glad to see that your brittle bones can still take some damage, otherwise, the next part of this scene wouldn't be much of a climax."

Xavier shot another round at Wildman's face that violently recoiled back from the blow. More shots followed while Xavier's arms started to glow in a blue light again. As the blue light intensified, the volley of shots started to gain speed as it was hitting all over Wildman's body, pushing him back with sheer force.

Raising his arms to shield his face, Wildman saw that Xavier's shots became blurs, with fingers pulling the triggers of his handguns at an impossible speed. All of the shots kept pushing back Wildman, whose Aura and willpower were no longer helping against the ceaseless attack that hit his entire body.

Soon, Wildman found the back of his legs hitting the rails that prevented him from falling into the dance floor. Looking up with black bruises all over his face and body, Wildman said, "Is-is that all you got? Compared to tha-that stupid Burnian, y-your just a p-pus…"

Trying to finish his statement, Wildman shakily shot out a fist that unleashed a band of energy that snaked around Xavier's body. Smirking at his success, Wildman pulled in the band and struck a fist into Xavier's face that sent the mercenary flying backwards.

Thinking that he had the upper hand, Wildman struggled to stay up as he looked at the ground. Finding the will to look back up again, he stared in horror at the sight of Xavier back up again with body now surrounded in blue energy.

Wiping the trail of blood from his mouth, Xavier said, "You really think a Burnian is that bad? Oh no, you haven't seen what someone like me can do to you."

Spreading both arms out by his sides, the blue energy surrounding Xavier started to flow towards his guns. As the energy surrounded the two handguns, they soon scattered into small particles that wrapped themselves around Xavier's arms.

When the particles finished reforming onto the arms, a pair of red cannons was formed along with what looked like two, black turbines settled onto each of Xavier's shoulders. Xavier's face as also seemed to change, as a dark shadow now covered most of his face, leaving only a pair of glowing blue eyes.

"What you're looking at here is a rare moment of what I would like to call a **Trigger Release**. This process allows me to transform my guns into their most powerful forms."

The turbines on the cannons started to spin, gathering energy into the barrels. Aiming them at Wildman's position with a feral smile, Xavier said, "And here is my **Coup De Grace**; enjoy your everlasting dream in Wonderland."

"OH SHIT."

As Wildman screamed his profanity, two large beams of blue energy came out of the cannons and directly hit Wildman. The laser beams carried Wildman's body all the way up into the club's ceiling.

* * *

"Mayor, I advise you to reconsider this action. I know that you're concerned about the mercenary's safety, but this is not the time to be acting rash."

At the front entrance of the mayor's office, Bridgette was walking out of the double doors as Orca was chasing after her.

"I know Orc- Secretary Nguyen, but I can't sit by while only one man is out there fighting for us. Since there is nobody else left to help us, I want to do what I can for this town as well."

As Bridgette walked towards a bright, red car, Orca stood in her path with hands on her hips.

"And if you get there, what will you do? You have no way of helping him in combat, let alone have anything to defend yourself with should you get attacked."

Reaching into her brown robe, Bridgette pulled out a red, glass ball that was attached to a thin, brown cylinder at the top. After Bridgette hit the button on the brown cylinder, the cylinder started to extend upwards until it became a long staff. Grasping the staff, Bridgette turned it over and set it down on the ground as the glass ball was glowing red on the top of the staff.

Surprised by the sight, Orca said, "Is that-."

Nodding her head, Bridgette said, "It's only a prototype, but it's capable enough to be somewhat useful in combat."

Seeing Orca sigh at her explanation, Bridgette gave her a sheepish look as she said, "Okay, it can only release two attacks so far. But I'm sure it will help in some way at the-."

"Enough, Mayor Vermillion. I can no longer stand how you're being immature like a child."

Seeing Bridgette stop at Orca's sudden loud outburst, Orca continued, "Look, I understand that you feel bad about this entire situation. I do too Bridgette; we were left with the responsibility to manage the city the best we can. "

As Orca crossed her arms, she said, "But the best thing you can do is resume your post at the office and stay safe. If anything happens to you, then this town will be in worse for wear than before. Do you understand?"

Bridgette was looking down at the ground by the time Orca finished her comment with a solemn face. After a couple of seconds, Bridgette raised her head back up with no sign of sorrow left on her face.

"Secretary Nguyen, as mayor of this town, I order you to stand down and let me through."

"Excuse me?"

Briefly flinching at the harsh tone, Bridgette regained her pose as she said, "Y-you heard me. I said to stand down. As mayor of this town, it is my duty to see that the town remains safe. If you don't move, I will have no choice but to place you under charges."

"And what charges would that be?"

Taking out a small holo-pad from her robe with her free hand, Bridgette pressed the screen and waited for it to load while saying, "Under Sector V, Article 13, and Section 100 of the Librarium's rulebook, a mayor has the right to take any means necessary to defend the city if all law enforcers are incapacitated."

Reciting through a couple more sentences of the memorized law, Bridgette took a deep breath and said, "If anyone or anything deters the mayor from taking defensive measures, then the mayor has all powers of judge, jury, and executioner to ensure that his or her pursuit may continue without delay."

Thrusting out the holo-pad, Orca saw that Bridgette was right, word by word. Now glaring at Bridgette, she asked in an annoyed voice, "Executioner? By what force will you use to carry out that role? You can't even put up a decent fight."

Raising her staff and pointing the glass ball at Orca, Bridgette replied, "But I can try, and if you keep standing in my way Orca, I will have no choice but to exercise that force against you."

By this point, both women were having a stare-off, waiting for the other to make a move.

When a few moments passed, Orca sighed and said, "So, you really want to go so bad that you would threaten your only friend in this city? My, I never knew that having this position would turn you into such a heartless dictator."

Panicking at the comment, Bridgette exclaimed, "But it's necessary. I hate to see this town get ruined any further, and now that someone who isn't a citizen is involved, I need to start taking responsi-."

"Calm down, I was just joking. Learn to recognize it Bridgette."

Confused at Orca's remark, Bridgette could only stare in confusion as Orca said, "Well, it's nice to see you finally grew a backbone. Your lack of one is the reason why not much people have approved of you as temporary mayor in the first place."

Bowing her head, Orca reached down and lifted her skirt in a curtsy as she said, "If the mayor orders it, then I'll be happy to accompany her to carry out this 'emergency' duty. Will that satisfy you?"

Bridgette smiled as she saw that her friend finally supported her action. Before she could reply, Bridgette saw two large beams of blue energy shoot straight into the sky, followed by a small, green dot that went flying in a different direction.

Seeing the sight as well, Orca said, "We should hurry if we're going to make."

Nodding in agreement, Bridgette was about to get into the car when a voice said, "If you don't mind, would you two young ladies give this old man a ride as well?"

Turning towards the direction of the voice, Bridgette and Orca saw a familiar figure walking towards them in grey robes and a grey staff that also had a glass ball on the top.

While Bridgette was smiling from being happy to see the figure, Orca glared as she said, "So you really are back. Figures, all this town needs is another troublemaker like you."

* * *

"_Wh-what? Where am I? And why does my head hurt so much?"_

Khal felt her mind start to awaken as she focused on the darkness brought forth by her closed eyes. As she searched through the haze brought forth by her mind, she heard someone say, "Miss Khal, are you awake?"

Opening her eyes, Khal saw Xavier looking down on her with dirt and blood all over his face.

Smiling at seeing her awake, Xavier said, "Phew, thank goodness you're awake. I thought the blast had put you into a coma or worse."

Sitting up from Xavier's lap and looking around, Khal felt her mind clear as she saw the destroyed dance floor and a giant hole in the ceiling. When she looked at Xavier, she saw that his entire body was still in one piece, although dirt and pieces of debris were all over his clothes and violet hair.

"Wh-what happened? What was that green light? Also, why am I covered in your black cloak?"

As if on cue, the black cloak suddenly came off of Khal and reattached itself around Xavier's neck. Seeing an inanimate object move without any external influence made Khal back away in surprise with blades out and ready.

"Whoa now, easy there. I'm sorry, but Freedom here is sensitive to other people he's not used, aren't you, you lovely parasite, you."

Khal watched in unbelief as Xavier started to scratch the cloak on one spot, making it fling itself all around in the air in what seemed like excitement, while a part of it remained tied around Xavier's neck.

When Xavier was done and the cloak has calmed down, Khal softly asked, "Were you watching over me during the entire time I was out?"

Looking straight at Khal, Xavier smiled as he said, "Yep, there's no way a gentleman like me would leave a lady who was hurt all by herself. And seeing your peaceful face in restful slumber has made the wait for your awakening worth it, so no need for thanks. Just be glad that I didn't have to kiss you to wake you up."

Feeling slightly annoyed, Khal decided to ignore how strange that phrase sounded and looked around again, making sure that what she saw was real.

"So, can you tell me what happened here? I don't remember seeing all of this debris and damage around while I was fighting you."

Scratching his head, Xavier said, "If I had to summarize the previous scene, all you need to know is that Wildman attacked us and I chased him away. Simple as that, so there's no need to worry about that old fart anymore."

Not believing everything he said, Khal decided to take him for his word because his summary did kind of make sense, aside from one thing.

"So did Wildman make that gigantic hole on the ceiling above us, or was that your doing?"

Unwilling to talk about his trigger release, Xavier started to sweat bullets as he thought about multiple excuses to cover up the situation. Khal's stare didn't help, as the silence only seemed to make her suspicious about the strange circumstances.

When Xavier was ready to reply, an angry voice interrupted any further conversation between the two fighters.

"What happened here?! And why is there a hole in the ceiling?!"

* * *

_**8 minutes earlier, after Xavier defeated Wildman**_

"Master Kramer, I'm happy to see that you have returned from your trip to Beacon Academy."

As Orca was driving the car towards Club Fantastic, Bridgette was in the back seat speaking to the old man known as Master Kramer.

Stroking his large grey beard, Master Kramer said, "Oh ho ho, I'm glad to see that someone is happy to see me return. Everybody else has either been too busy hiding in their homes or treating me with disrespect, like our driver here."

Looking at the driver's seat, Bridgette saw that Orca has been really quiet while giving Master Kramer quite a nasty glare every once in a while with the back-view mirror.

"Um, Secretary Nguyen, isn't there anything you want to ask Master Kramer? I'm sure there is something that you want to know about Beacon Academy, the school we have applied for."

Orca remained quiet as she continued to drive towards their destination. Seeing that she wasn't going to answer any time soon, Master Kramer moved up his seat and said, "Orca, don't you want to greet your grandfather? It's been five days with no calls from you."

Hearing the voice much too close for comfort, Orca suddenly swerved the car right into a parking space. The force of the turn made Master Kramer bang his head against the car while Bridgette was shrieking and holding onto her seatbelt for dear life.

Unhooking her own seat belt and getting out of the car, Orca said, "We're here Mayor Vermillion. I suggest you please watch your step, there appears to be an obstacle blocking your path."

Looking at the side door that leads to the sidewalk, Bridgette said, "I don't see any obstacles. All I see is Master Kra-."

Orca opened the door in a violent manner and moved aside as Master Kramer's unconscious body fell out of the car and hit the pavement below.

Looking at Bridgette with a raised eyebrow, Orca said, "As I have said, please watch your step."

Stepping over Master Kramer's body, Bridgette immediately took out her staff as she walked in front of the building where the battle was taking place. Seeing some of the unconscious invaders outside and hearing only silence made Bridgette even more concerned about the entire situation.

Standing next to her, Orca took out two silver tonfas and said, "If you don't mind, I would like to go in first. If there are any enemies at the entrance, I will handle them and have you come up with support."

Nodding in agreement with the plan, Bridgette watched as Orca stepped into the club. After waiting a couple of seconds, Bridgette heard Orca's angry voice say, "What happened here?! And why is there a hole in the ceiling?!"

* * *

Looking up at the loud voice, Xavier saw a black-haired woman in a blue business dress and skirt enter the building with a horrified look on her face. When the woman looked down, Xavier became entranced by what he thought was a beautiful, mature face.

"_And yet again, I have seen another beautiful woman grace this short, yet adventurous life. It sure beats looking at that old man's ugly face."_

Xavier was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that the woman was right in front of him, with both tonfas at ready in her hands.

Asking with anger lacing her voice, the woman asked, "Are you Xavier Excelsior, the mercenary we hired to rid the place of the invaders?"

Looking up with a smirk on his face, Xavier said, "Why yes, and as you can see, I did a pretty good job with the clean up, wouldn't you think so?"

The woman had her fingers hovering over the tonfas' triggers as she asked in a rising voice, "Do you remember how we specifically asked you to keep the club under one piece, along with your word that it will not come out with extensive damages?"

Now feeling the heat of the woman's anger from her words, Xavier weakly replied, "Well, you can't go into details like that. I mean, aside from the ceiling, I'm sure everything else will be o-."

The moment Xavier started to say, "okay," the woman instantly brought up one tonfa and pulled the trigger. A large blast instantly erupted from the barrel and engulfed Xavier in a fiery explosion. As the smoke cleared from the explosion, Xavier was found to be alive, but charred and injured from the blast.

Suddenly, a large tap rang in the air. A moment later, Xavier found himself and the woman floating in the air inside bubbles. The bubbles floated away from each other, placing both occupants at a distance away from each other.

Seeing this random spectacle in surprise, three heads turned to the source of the tap and saw that an old man in gray robes have arrived with a red-haired woman in a large, brown robe following right behind him.

Looking at the scene in amusement, the old man said, "Orca, I always thought that you would only be that uptight and violent when I'm around. I'm glad to see that someone has taken the role of your victim."

Bringing his staff down, the old man let out another tap, which made the bubbles pop and send Xavier and Orca back to the ground.

As the two newcomers approached, the old man looked at Xavier and said, "I am Master Kramer. And I believe you're the mercenary who my replacement has called in order to handle this situation, correct?"

Nodding his head, Xavier saw that Master Kramer has nodded his own head, as if showing approval of the situation that has occurred.

Now looking at Orca, Master Kramer said, "Well, I'm glad that I also remembered that this technique would help you calm down when you were younger. So are you feeling better now, dear granddaughter?"

In reply to this comment, Orca swung her tonfa at him, only to see that her target has dodged the blow by somehow twisting his entire mid-section to the side.

"Oh ho ho, you'll have to do better than that if you want to hit this old timer."

The next tonfa swing that Master Kramer dodged blew off a chunk of debris that was behind him.

While this scene occurred, Xavier was off on the side with Khal treating his wounds and Bridgette slowly walking up to the two.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Excelsior? Hello, my name is Bridgette Vermillion. I am -."

"The temporary mayor of this city, correct?" Looking up at Bridgette, Xavier let out a pained smile as he said, "And please, call me Xavier. The honorific doesn't suit me, especially when I'm in no position to accept it in this dirty state."

Smiling from this, Bridgette was about to make the rest of her statement when she noticed Xavier examining her with a grin on his face. Nervous from this, Bridgette asked, "Um, is there something wrong with me?

As Xavier looked at Bridgette, he thought, "_Long crimson hair, beautiful eyes on a sculpted face, and a figure with a chest and curve? I would almost think it's ridiculous to see her as the same age as me, if not for that profile I saw of her before I came into town."_

While Khal silently examined Xavier's charred arm, Xavier said, "There is nothing wrong with you. In fact, everything about you is too perfect."

Seeing befuddlement cross Bridgette's face, Xavier raised his arm to her and said, "Please don't tell me that you don't realize just how beautiful you are? Why, any words less than that cannot describe how your red hair would look as lov-."

Xavier stopped as he yelped out in pain, which was caused by Khal violently slapping a wet piece of paper on his arm.

"There, the rubbing alcohol I found at the bar stand should help clean this wound, so do it yourself. And if you're going to flirt with that weird way you talk, then make sure to do it where I can't hear it."

As Khal stood up, Xavier looked at her with a disapproving face as he said, "Flirting? No way, the Chosen of the Church may be known for his flirtatious ways, but I am a pure gentleman, Khal. Did you forget?"

Khal just gave Xavier a look and said in a deadpan manner, "I didn't, but if you don't stop talking like that, I can always settle down for a rematch as compensation."

Not wanting to restart their earlier battle, Xavier let out a dejected sigh, and decided to save his comments for another time. Curious with another situation, Xavier asked Khal, "So why treat my wounds? I don't remember that being a part of your job detail."

Wrapping a piece of cloth around Xavier's arm, Khal replied, "Well, you were right when you said I was on an unreliable contract. It was supposed to be a permanent one after this job, but you blew my supervisor away."

Before Xavier could say anything to that, Khal interrupted with, "But don't worry about it. He didn't like me as much as I disliked him. And now that he knows that I'm a Burnian, well, it looked like I was going to be unemployed again."

As Khal finished her treatment, she ended with, "The treatment is just my way of saying thanks. If you hadn't come along, I might have ended up with a bad job, or worse, especially if Wildman was planning to get rid of me like he just tried a while ago."

Xavier looked at her and said, "Then thanks for treating my arm. Also, thank you for reconsidering. In all honesty, you deserve better than what those guys were making you go through just to keep your job."

Slightly embarrassed, Khal turned away and started fiddling with her tie, which was partially torn off, so the sight of her doing it didn't look all that swell.

In need of changing the subject, Xavier turned to a dazed Bridgette, whose cheeks were slightly red, and asked, "So, was there something you wanted to say earlier, Miss Mayor?"

Shaking her head to rid herself of her red cheeks, Bridgette stood straight up, and then lowered her head down into a bow.

"Even if there is a price involved for this service, I would like to thank you, on behalf of our city, for stopping the invaders from causing further damage and escaping with our prized possessions."

Feeling slightly touched by this sight, Xavier was about to reply when he heard Orca say in an annoyed voice, "He actually failed at his task, Mayor, so there will be no payment involved."

Xavier turned and saw that Orca was dragging an unconscious Master Kramer behind her, who was now covered in burnt marks. Dropping her grandfather onto the ground, Orca walked towards where Bridgette was standing.

When she was standing right next to Bridgette, Orca glared at Xavier and asked, "So have you captured all 80 men, plus the leader who fit the descriptions that we have given you? Hm?"

Suddenly remembering the details of his mission, Xavier said, "Well…no, but I did take down 25 residents here. Oh, and I also defeated their leader, some old man who calls himself Wildman."

"And where is he now?"

Looking sheepishly at the ceiling above him, Xavier said, "Um, he got away."

Not impressed by the results at all, Orca was about to restate that Xavier was not going to get any kind of payment until her suit started to let out a ring.

Fishing into her suit, Orca took out a small holo-pad and brought up a screen that showed the local news. Placing it where everybody could see it, the screen showed a news reporter standing near what looked like a giant x-shaped hole on what appears to be a different part of the city's walls.

"For today's news, it appears that the situation at Club Fantastic has died down right after two mysterious beams of light came out of the club's rooftop. However, earlier sightings have confirmed that some of the invaders have already left and have created another hole on the other side of town. For everyone's safety, please keep away from Chapter 5 for a little longer. Law enforcers are already on their way to handle the situation over there."

As the reporter was talking, one Beowolf was seen coming from the hole. As it started to run towards the camera with teeth gnashing, the cameraman started to point at the Beowolf with a shaky finger while whimpering loudly. Not getting the clue, the reporter asked, "What?"

Finally looking at the direction of the finger, the reporter looked back, just in time to see the Beowolf about to slash at him. The reporter screamed as he turned around to run away, but he accidently ran into the camera, making the screen go straight to static.

Turning off her holo-pad, Orca looked up and saw that Bridgette was pale, horrified by the sight.

"D-did a Beowolf just enter the city!?"

Hearing the rising panic in her voice, Orca was about to calm Bridgette down when Xavier came up and said, "Why, yes it was Ms. Mayor. But fear not, for I am willing to extend my services to fortifying the city's security and exterminating Grimm with my new partner-in-crime."

Reaching over and putting his arms around Khal's shoulders, Xavier continued, "We would be happy to do it for one small price."

Before Orca could say anything, Bridgette immediately replied, "Alright, please name it."

Now turning to look at Bridgette, Orca started to feel unwell from where this was going, especially when Xavier said, "Residency. I didn't really get through most of the archives here because this city is just packed full of the old paper and holo-books that I want to read. Also, my Burnian comrade here needs a place to stay for a while before she heads out again, so staying for a while would do just fine for her. How does that sound?"

The moment Xavier mentioned that Khal was Burnian, he started to see Khal's face look angry and shocked at the same time. A flash of silver metal caught Xavier's eye, which implied that she was about to carry out the rematch she mentioned from before.

"Done. The city can take care of all your expenses and present you a wage during your stay here. If you don't mind, we can only spare you some apartments in the central part of the city, if that's alright."

As the last word came out of Bridgette's mouth, Orca and Khal were giving Bridgette befuddled looks while Xavier's face was beaming so bright, he could have lit up the whole room with his smile.

Taking Bridgette's hand, Xavier mustered up the deepest and smoothest voice he could find and said, "Ms. Mayor, consider your city safe in our hands during our stay. And it will be an honor working for an amazing leader such as yourself."

Bridgette's face was bright red and steaming by the time Xavier finished his comment and gave her hand a kiss. Releasing the hand, Xavier turned to Khal and said, "Well, let's get going. We have a job to do, don't we Khal?"

Xavier took, if not dragged, a confused Khal out of the ruined club. As soon as they left, Orca looked at Bridgette, who still looked dazed from what just happened. Bringing her fingers to the bridge of her nose, she rubbed it, hoping to get rid of the pain that was in her had.

* * *

While everybody was still making a commotion about the recent events, nobody noticed that Master Kramer has woken up from his unconscious state and had walked towards the back of the club.

At the back, two of the eight trucks were still there, packed with the stolen goods that the invaders had tried to run off with until Xavier had stopped them.

Looking through the trucks, Master Kramer finally found his object of desire, a black obsidian box that had a picture of what looked like a golden block stamped on the top.

Opening the box, Master Kramer saw a golden light shine through it. Giving a sigh of relief, he said, "Well, at least they couldn't get this important piece. Wouldn't want this to be stolen right before the other pieces are finished."

As Master Kramer closed the box, he aimed his glowing staff at the box and watched it become surrounded by warped space before it closed, taking the box to an unknown location. With task accomplished, Master Kramer came back out to see that Orca and Bridgette having an interesting discussion.

"Is it really alright to let those two stay here just as my Grandfather came back from his trip?"

Bridgette looked at Orca's holo-pad as she replied back, "We need more help to deal with this situation. Now that the Grimm has set their sights on entering this city, we needed a fast solution before more show up. Besides, wasn't it your idea to hire the mercenary in the first place?"

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Orca replied, "Yes, and now I'm regretting it. He did a good job here, but the unexpected arrival of the Huntress and grandfather is enough to handle the situation. Besides, Xavier is enough trouble as he is, but to have a Burnian-."

"Actually, the Huntress has already left to pursue the other invaders who escaped."

Orca and Bridgette turned their heads to see Master Kramer coming from the back of the club. As he approached, Orca asked, "Wait, what? Didn't you tell the communications center that you were with a Huntress?"

Taking a deep cough, Master Kramer replied, "Well, no. You see, we were notified that my protégé here has already found some assistance. So after surveying the damaged wall, the Huntress somehow saw some of the invaders escape when they made that other huge wall, so she took off."

As Orca felt frustrated by this unexpected predicament, Master Kramer walked up to Bridgette and placed a hand on her shoulder while saying, "You have made a very good choice, Mayor Vermillion. Their help will be needed, especially when we start making repairs to the walls in the upcoming days. Maybe someday, you can keep the title and take over as the real mayor of this city."

Bridgette smiled as she heard this, excited to hear praise from her teacher. Master Kramer lightened his features and continued, "On the other hand, you have done such an excellent job that I wouldn't mind letting you have this position until you leave for Beacon Academy."

Bridgette's smile grew ever wider from hearing this proposal. However, Orca came up to her grandfather with a raised eyebrow and asked, "You're not just doing this so you can go on another one of you 'trips,' are you? Because when you gave Bridgette her position the last time, you left the next day and told us you were at Beacon Academy the day after that."

Master Kramer started sweating bullets at this revelation. However, Bridgette came to the rescue when she innocently asked, "Well, Orca. I wouldn't mind keeping the job and having you as my secretary again. Wouldn't it be great if we can keep working together?"

Seeing Bridgette ask the question so innocently made Orca's scowl melt at the sight while she replied, "No, I wouldn't mind working with you again. It was nice helping you keep this city full of bright minds organized and in shape."

Orca smiled as she raised her open hand in the air. Bridgette took the hand and shook it as an implied declaration that the two will be working again in the future.

Giving a huge sigh after the shake, Orca said, "Well, it will be interesting to see what those two mercenaries would do in this city, although they, especially that Burnian, have me concerned."

Master Kramer took a look out of the club's entrance and said, "Well, maybe we can make things better by signing them up for Beacon Academy. What do you think of that?"

The only replies given was Bridgette giving another huge smile while Orca had her mouth gaping open in shock.

* * *

"Let me go. Can't you see that I don't want this job?"

Shaking off Xavier's grip on her arm, Khal immediately started to walk away from him in a direction that went away from their original destination.

Xavier started to follow her as he exclaimed, "Why not? It's legit. The leaders don't care if you're Burnian, and you just got yourself a free place to live for the next couple of months. Why do you not want that?"

Khal stopped in her tracks and turned around to see that Xavier stopped with her. Looking down at her feet, Khal said, "I-it's not right. I would be working for a city that I almost helped a bunch of thieves ransack a couple of minutes ago. How would they react if they knew that I was working for them? Even worse, what would happen if everybody else in the city knew that I was a Burnian?"

Xavier didn't immediately reply to that. Instead, he stood where he was with eyes closed while he was fiddling with the safety of his handguns that were in their holsters.

Khal took this as a sign that she was right to leave. Turning around, she took a couple of steps as she heard Xavier say, "You know, you keep mentioning that you're a Burnian, someone who seems worse than the other monsters we know as Grimm. Personally, I don't care because as a gentleman, I try not to make an impression by sight alone, but by the actions of their souls as well."

Khal kept walking and tried to ignore everything else that Xavier was trying to say.

"But I won't stop you because I really don't know how everybody else will react. If the Burnian prejudice is as bad as you say it is, maybe it's best for all of us if you leave."

Slightly relieved, yet hurt by Xavier's comment, Khal kept walking, thinking that she's now set to walk out of the city into…where exactly could she go? Before she could take another step, she saw Xavier appear right in her path while covered in the brightest blue Aura that Khal has seen him unleash all day.

As Xavier calm his Aura back into nothingness, Khal saw that he had a yellow flower cupped in both of his hands. As Xavier presented her the flower, he said, "Here, I want you to have this."

Khal took the flower in confusion as Xavier continued, "It's called a Gladiolus. It symbolizes a lot of good things with just its name alone."

While Khal curiously looked at the flower, Xavier continued, "The flower symbolizes honor, faithfulness and strength. It also symbolizes that everything the flower stands for will always be remembered. Looking at you, I can see that you're everything this flower stands for, and someday, I'm sure that you'll be seen beyond the fact that you were born from a hated nation."

As Khal looked up and saw Xavier stare at her right into her eyes, he said "My point with this flower is that I know you're better than this; better than to let a bunch of sour opinions obscure the real 'you' standing before me."

"Giving that flower to you is also my way of giving you a promise, one that says you can have a chance to make your life better with an honest job that I think you'll never regret having. And if people have an issue with you, they'll have to deal with me."

To emphasize this point, Xavier formed his shotgun and placed the bottom of it on top of his shoulder with the barrel pointing straight up in the air.

Raising his other open hand and presenting it to Khal in a welcoming manner, Xavier asked, "So what do you say, Miss Khal? Will you allow me to keep that promise, or will you go on your own path and hope that things can get slightly better than now?"

Khal just stood there, dumbfounded by Xavier's declaration. As the morning sun now shined on them, Khal thought she saw a halo form around Xavier's head and shine as bright as the hopeful smile he was giving her.

Shaking her head in annoyance, Khal handed the flower back to Xavier. With smile gone and shotgun now slouching against his leg, Xavier reached out to take the flower from her hands.

"Keep it; I don't have a vase to put it in, so it'll just get in the way when we do our job."

Hearing this, Xavier wide smile came back again and said, "Alright, that's the spirit. And don't worry, as a man of my word, I assure you that you and I will have a blast here at the Librarium….okay, maybe not as much since we totaled the only club this city had. But nonetheless, it shall be a legend among many in of our lifetime."

Xavier took back the flower as he finished his comment, and Khal turned her back to him, now looking at the giant x-shaped hole in the wall.

Activating her blades that came out of her wrist, Khal said, "By the way, if you pull another cheesy dialogue like that again, I'll pin that mouth of yours shut with my blades."

Khal started to run forward towards the wall. As she was running, she looked back and saw Xavier follow her while feigning a hurt look.

"Oh, Miss Khal, that hurts me deeply. Do you not know that our stories need wonderful content to relay how awesome they were to our future successors?"

Rolling her eyes, Khal just kept dashing forward while Xavier droned on about how stories need romance and fantasy. Despite her annoyance, Khal couldn't keep a small smile from forming, secretly glad that she has made a friend and found a place to call home…for a while.

* * *

The dark clothed figure looked at the Librarium as he stood on a far grassy plain. He saw that an increasing number of Grimm entered the x-shaped hole in the wall followed by shouts and screams from the people falling victim to the Grimm. The figure took great joy from the sight and noise, until they stopped as explosions of blue and red light started to fill the air while obliterating and slashing through the Grimm opposition.

Despite his disappointment to see that the city will survive another day, the dark figure didn't care. He did his job and seeing that Wildman has failed his job, he decided that it was time to leave before more trouble came his way.

Looking at the men behind him, the dark figure said, "Get the trucks to the destination. It looks like Wildman and the rest have failed in their mission. Now we need to make sure we finish ours."

Saddened at the news of their fallen comrades, the men went back to the trucks and drove them away. As they left, the dark figure saw a large, green dot approach his destination.

The dark figure saw that it was an unconscious Wildman flying in the air. The dark figure stepped to the side as the entire glowing body crashed into the ground. By the time the cloud of dust disappeared, Wildman's entire head was seen buried into the ground.

Taking the sight in, the dark figure bitterly thought, "_And here he is. The man who will take responsibility for failing to complete the rest of this operation. When we get back, I will be sure to punish him thoroughly before I hand him back to his bosses."_

Before he could retrieve Wildman's body, the dark figure suddenly stood stiff and looked at a group of trees that was nearby. After a couple of seconds, he said in a dark voice, "**I know you're there. Reveal yourself before I am obligated to do it myself."**

After the trees rustled for several seconds, a woman dressed in a white trench coat adorned in parts of silver armor and white skirt came out. As her long pink and blond ponytail flowed behind her, the woman had her turquoise eyes stare intensely at the dark figure. Taking out a weapon that looked like a hybrid of a gun and a sword, the woman aimed its barrel at the figure.

"My name is Electra Freyja, and I'm here to take you in for the atrocities you have committed against mankind, Blade."

Hearing this made the dark figure laugh in a mocking manner. As he laughed, he said, "So you're Elektra. I thought I heard your name from somewhere; I believe you're famous for being one of Beacon's top 2nd-year students."

The dark figure stopped laughing as he raised one hand into the air and summon several swords shining in a transparent white color. Using his other hand to take a jet-black claymore from his back, the dark figure aimed all weapons onto Elektra's position.

In response, Elektra formed her weapon into a red sword with a blade that looked like a wild flame and took up a fighting stance.

The black figure shook his head in disappointment while saying, "For a top student, you have a poor sense of judgment. If the weapons and title are not enough to clue you in, let me remind you that your 3rd and 4th year students couldn't even handle me."

Placing the blade to her side, Elektra started to become covered in a bright red light that was her Aura. Soon, her Aura expanded and burned the plain's grassy field unfortunate enough to be hit by the flames.

Looking up with entire body unfazed, Elektra said, "I'm not like most students; I'm the Huntress-in-training who will take you down."

Leaping towards Blade from the charred ground, Freya had her blade, now engulfed in flames, raised behind her back. As she approached and swung at her target, Blade retaliated by unleashing his swords and swinging his claymore to meet the incoming attack.

_To be continued…._

* * *

A/N:

Hey everybody. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.

Man, this took a long time to type down. It's actually this long because I may have accidentally introduced some characters for a second team that I was thinking about.

In the next chapter, the next main character and at least one cameo appearance from RWBY's main characters, along with some new elements, will be introduced.

I do apologize for Xavier's speech pattern, which seems to be very annoying, so apologies for anybody who might feel nausea from reading it.

Please comment or PM if you like this chapter or you have some issues with something (just make sure it doesn't turn into a forest fire.) Doing such things will, I hope, improve anything that I might be doing wrong.

Also, I am thinking of doing a character stat-page for any viewers who might be interested in some details of the charactersIt might also help with any confusing details, so just let me know if such a page is desired.

References:

- Chosen of the Church (a.k.a Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia): Yeah, this might explain the 'stories' that Xavier read on his free time. Different references will be used later, but nothing to say that it's significant to this storyline to be a major plot (so no major disclaimers on those.)

Until the next chapter, stay safe and avoid any falling, green objects from the sky.

**Next time: Nathan, the Stalwart Guardian**


	3. Nathan, The Stalwart Guardian

Chapter 3: Nathan, The Stalwart Guardian

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content.)

* * *

**Guardians, beings given the duty to protect what is right from wrong**

**Through the darkest flames and brightest shadows, they stand ever vigilant and strong.**

Snowflakes fell from the dark clouds above, preparing to make the ground below white before embracing the entire world in a cold and dark embrace. Bare trees dotted these white lands with large black lines, while their branches flew helplessly from the pull of the icy winds.

Looking over to where a trail should have been visible, only footprints were there. This evidence shows that someone, who was crazy enough to brave this weather, would even dare take a trail that lead up into the mountains.

However, the Apprentice, Nathan Osmond, had no other choice. He is on an important assignment, one that needs to be done soon, for his own sake and those of others.

Now finding himself at the base of a large mountain, Nathan drew his gray overcoat tighter around his body as the winds picked up and threw white frost onto his gray hair.

Shifting his shield that was on his back, Nathan moved forward, ready to hike the large mountain ahead of him. As Nathan took the first few steps up the icy slope, a large piece of hardened snow fell from one part of the mountain and crashed into the ground not too far from where Nathan was at.

"_Great, not only can I die from hypothermia, but getting crushed by rocks too!? I really think someone else should have done this. Too bad though, I'm the only one available to do this today."_

Nathan kept walking despite his negative thoughts. As he approached the mountain's vertical incline, Nathan started to remember how he got into this mess; better to think about that rather than the long trek up the mountain.

* * *

Nathan was sitting at a table in a restaurant. With beautiful decorations and colors lining the surroundings, the giant room had waiters and waitresses moving about and taking orders from the other customers around him.

Those same customers were wearing everything that symbolizes their rich status in the social environment, making Nathan feel uncomfortable with his plain wear of a grey collared t-shirt and black jeans.

Tapping his fingers in frustration, Nathan started to take a big drink out of his cup, hoping that his contact will meet with him soon before people started to stare at him.

"You know, the water is free here, so there's no rush in drinking."

Almost spitting out the water in surprise, Nathan successfully swallowed the mouthful he had and turned around as he tried to be happy to hear the voice.

Behind Nathan stood an older man with slick black hair and a short goatee. He wore a black waistcoat with a white collared shirt underneath it and black pants, an attire fitting for a butler.

Taking note of Nathan's smile, the man smiled back and sat down on the other side of the table. After he made his order for some coffee, the man turned his attention back onto Nathan with a grin.

"I'm sorry to do that to you, sir, but I didn't want to mistake you for another person. The only way to do that was to see if you still had that timid expression of yours."

"Yes, among the many people here, I'm sure you could have confused me with someone who dresses as poor as me and has as much gray hair as I do," replied Nathan, with voice slightly showing signs of annoyance.

Chuckling at the sarcasm, the man picked up his coffee that arrived and took a moment to drink it. Nathan continued, "And you don't have to call me 'sir,' Mr. Leflar. I have no title that forces you to be concerned about that."

Putting his coffee down in front of him, Mr. Leflar replied, "Well, I usually give that title to most Contractor Apprentices that I see. I think you being one of those people deserves enough credit for me to be 'concerned' about it."

Ignoring the need to assert his opinion, Nathan said, "Thank you. I appreciate that you care, even though you are busy with the preparations for tonight."

After the last comment, both men continued to drink in silence as the people around them continued to chat. Finally, Nathan looked up at Mr. Leflar and asked, "So, has my request been confirmed?"

Mr. Leflar took another long sip, and then replied, "Yes, your seat will be ready at the event. However, there is one favor that I would like you to do before you attend."

Inwardly groaning, Nathan reluctantly asked, "Is there another situation that I would like to take care of before I attend?"

Nodding in confirmation, Mr. Leflar took out a holo-pad and pressed a button on it. As the screen came to life, it projected a map that had a red blip blinking over somewhere in the mountains far from the city.

"Some concerns have been going around, regarding a large Grimm disturbing some of the villagers below the mountains. The villages they live in are near some Dust mines, so we need to send an immediate response to this if we're to keep the interests of the company safe."

With face now outlined with a concerned look, Mr. Leflar continued, "But that is the problem. Sending any kind of response from the company would postpone the event due to protocols, especially if we need to send a Contractor in to handle the situation."

Taking a minute to pause, Mr. Leflar reluctantly said, "But….if you go and handle this unannounced, then we can continue on with the event and have this problem fixed at the same time."

Looking at Nathan with pleading eyes, Mr. Leflar asked, "I know that you might miss your chance to see her perform tonight because of your….situation, but can you go? It would mean so much to her. The people being harassed by the Grimm would even be more grateful for the help."

The whole situation didn't sit well with Nathan. He waited almost forever for this event as a chance to see her, but he knew that Mr. Leflar was right. Since everybody else was busy tonight with him being the exception, Nathan knew he was the best choice for the job.

"Alright, I'll do it. Although I kind of wish that someone more capable was available to handle this, like the ones from the richer training academies."

Mr. Leflar hardened his gaze at Nathan and sternly said, "You are as capable as any other Assistant who would have done this. Don't ever assume that your spot in society defines that." After saying that, Mr. Leflar softened his gaze as he noticed that Nathan's negative reaction to his comment didn't stop the Assistant from worrying.

"And don't forget, you're your father's son. If he were still here, he would be proud to know that you were doing things like this, whether or not you were within the Boundary."

Feeling grateful for the comment, Nathan smiled to show his gratitude. Taking one last drink from his cup, Nathan stood up from his chair and picked up his gray overcoat.

"Sir Nathan, would you not like a bite to eat before you begin? This meal is on me, so you don't need to worry about the bill."

Looking back at Mr. Leflar, Nathan said, "No thanks, I need to make preparations and get my gear. Besides, I'm starting to see that I'm unwanted here. Next time, I'll pick the place and you can buy me a meal then."

Ignoring some angry eyes that were looking at Nathan, especially at his hair, Nathan put on his coat as he hurriedly went out of the restaurant's door.

As he watched Nathan's retreating figure, Mr. Leflar sighed as he called up a waiter to bring him the bill. When the bill came and Mr. Leflar paid it, he got up and also left to help with the preparations for tonight's event.

* * *

**Present**

"I-I re-really w-wish that h-he to-told me that i-it was going to b-be this c-co-cold."

As Nathan climbed the mountain, the blizzard started to pick up over time. Soon, most of the mountain was covered in snow and Nathan's entire body started to become covered in ice.

Feeling his bare fingers freeze with the rest of his body, Nathan kept climbing, hoping that he was almost to his destination.

After several more minutes of climbing the mountain, Nathan saw a large ledge above him, indicating that a larger piece of land was above it.

When Nathan climbed up and over the ledge, he saw that there was a lot of open ground covered in snow. At the other side of this open land, there was a large cavern that led deeper into the mountains.

Relieved that he finally made it, Nathan walked up to the mouth of the cavern and discarded his overcoat onto the ground beside it.

With the overcoat now gone, Nathan's body revealed that it was covered in an armored suit, with a blue mid-section and bands of white and red outlining the plates and edges of the gray armor.

On the armor's back hung a gray oval shield that was almost the size of Nathan's body. On the top part of the shield, a black sword handle was sticking out, indicating that it was inside a sheath that was attached to the shield. As Nathan made sure that the shield, his Strato Nimbus, was secure on his back, Nathan nervously gripped the sword handle as he checked out what was in front of him.

Looking deep into the cavern, Nathan gulped as he stood there in anticipation, waiting for any kind of hostility to meet him at the entrance. After waiting for a few minutes, Nathan saw that nothing came out to meet him. Despite the lack of any threats, Nathan stood at the spot, now feeling tense at the thought of venturing deeper into the cavern.

"_Well, nothing is here. Maybe the Grimm went somewhere else. I should probably leave and get back in time before the event begins. Yeah, I need to wear something nice if I'm finally going to see her later."_

Feeling relaxed, Nathan turned around and started to leave. Before he could venture any further, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, head hung in disappointment.

Sighing loudly, Nathan thought, "_But…I know better than that. If I leave and this thing causes trouble later, then everything is going to be ruined. Worst of all, everybody is going to suffer because of me."_

Right as Nathan finished his thought, a loud roar came from deep within the caverns and blew away the snowflakes that were unfortunate to fall near the cavern.

As the roar died down, Nathan was down on one knee, with shield out and ready in front of him. When nothing else came afterwards, Nathan peeked around his shield just to make sure.

All he saw was the cavern's void, threatening to swallow anything that entered. Gathering his courage, Nathan took a deep breath and started his venture deep into the cave.

* * *

"Hello? Anybody home?"

Nathan was feeling livid at this point. Even if his armor was able to illuminate the dark cavern, Nathan still felt suffocated by the surrounding darkness and, at this point, just wanted to get this over with and leave.

When he rounded one corner, Nathan saw that the cavern ended with a large wall at the end of the path. Walking up to the wall, Nathan turned around and didn't see anything else that gave any sign of a Grimm dwelling here.

"_Well, great. The event is starting in an hour and a half, and I'm here wasting my time at an empty cave. But Mr. Leflar is usually right about his information, and that roar from earlier. I wonder if the Grimm just left as I got here?"_

While Nathan kept pondering about the situation, he didn't notice that the giant wall behind him start to shift. As the wall began to move, it soon became clear that what Nathan saw was the back of a large creature.

When the creature turned around, a bony mask adorned in red lines was shown, which was covering the face's large snout all the way up to the top part of its dark face. Two white horns were protruding from the location, with tips sharp enough to pierce through the hardest of stones.

Quietly turning around, the creature unveiled four legs with sharp hooves attached at their bottoms. The legs were followed by a tail that was hidden under the creature's bottom.

As it extended its black body back to its original structure, all four legs were standing at full extension, with one of them pawing into the ground. With head lowered as it aimed its horns, the creature snorted steam from its nose while getting ready to skewer the person in front of him, just for the sake of relieving its violent nature.

When Nathan heard the snort, he slowly turned around to see that the giant wall from before had turned into a quadruped creature, with a face almost as large as Nathan's body.

Sighing, Nathan gave a brief silent prayer as he readied his shield. When the Taurus charged at Nathan, Nathan's last thoughts were, _"Next time, Mr. Leflar, a heads up about the Taurus would be nice."_

* * *

At the entrance of the cave, the Taurus came charging out and flung Nathan's body across the large area. Although the Taurus was able to hit him all the way to the clearing, Nathan didn't suffer any lethal wounds thanks to his shield protecting him from the worst of the damage.

However, Nathan's entire body was sore as it crashed into the ground and slid near the edge of the ledge. As Nathan picked himself up, a trail of blood leaked out of his nose and mouth.

As the Taurus got ready for another charge, Nathan reached for the black sword handle in his shield and took it out, unveiling his Tidal Storm. As the sword was raised into the air, it was revealed to have a large, white blade with a single sharp edge. As Nathan placed the blade's sharp edge onto the top of the shield, the edge of the blade was shown to have what looked like small black holes dotting its non-sharp edge.

The Taurus charged with horns set to crash into Nathan. Just as its horns made impact, Nathan quickly dodged to the side and swung his sword at the passing Grimm. As his strike landed and Nathan tried to roll away, he swung more slashes to side and back leg.

Although the strikes left small cuts all over the Taurus' backside, it kept going undeterred and turned around while resuming its charge. Nathan was unprepared for this and saw that the Taurus' horns are about to pierce his body.

Nathan pulled the trigger on one part of his sword's handle and activated the black holes, or the jets, of his sword. Swinging with the burst of air, Nathan moved out of the way and used the momentum to skillfully land a slash on the Taurus' eye.

The blow from the sword's attack combined by the momentum left a deep gash into the eye, distorting the Taurus and momentarily making it charge without purpose. It swung its head around randomly and almost hit Nathan right as he landed on his feet.

Reacting quickly, Nathan raised his shield as a glyph formed over the surface. When the Taurus hit the shield, its head was violently thrown to the side when the shield used the force of the blow to rebound it back into the Grimm.

The sudden pain distorted the Taurus even more, making it go on a rampage as it swung its head with uncontrollable rage. The Taurus ended up crashing into the wall near the cave's entrance, creating a large crash and a large crack on the wall.

Whether it was the crack or the sound, Nathan never knew. He just knew that the moment it happened, the mountain started to make an unusual ominous noise. As the noise continued, Nathan saw that a large pile of snow and ice near the top of the mountain started to shift.

As the noise grew louder, the pile soon broke from the mountain and came crashing down, forming into a large avalanche. The avalanche grew bigger and more threatening as it continued to roll over the other piles of ice and snow that got in its way. Nathan kept watching the sight in fear, distracted from the other problem that has recovered from its crash.

The Taurus immediately stood up and saw from its good eye that its target stood still, vulnerable to its attack. Not caring about the avalanche, the Taurus charged at Nathan, who was able to see it coming but didn't have enough time to dodge the incoming blow.

Nathan couldn't do anything else at this point but pick up his shield and activate his glyph as he braced for impact. The moment the Taurus slammed into him, Nathan flew over the ledge and was headed straight down the mountain in mid-air.

Thinking fast, Nathan immediately swung his shield under his feet and raised his sword into the air. Right before Nathan landed on the mountain, he swung his sword down as the handle of the blade started to glow in a white light.

A large amount of smooth ice erupted from the sword and instantly covered the rocky and icy side of the mountain. Nathan slid on the ice with his shield below him as he continued to make more ice, creating a large path of ice all the way to the bottom of the mountain.

When Nathan safely reached the bottom, he turned around and got his weapons ready after he saw the Taurus charging down the mountain with the avalanche right behind it.

Nathan decided that he needed to meet this attack with his best one. With this in mind, he put his sword back into his shield's sheath and lowered the shield right next to his side. Getting into a stance, Nathan placed his hand right on the handle with left hand holding the shield, focused entirely on finding the right moment to unleash his attack.

The Taurus started to get closer, letting out a roar as if accepting Nathan's challenge. Running faster down the incline, the Taurus soon became bigger and bigger in Nathan's eyes with its approach.

"_Alright, it's all or nothing."_

As the Taurus got closer, Nathan began to shout, "**Iai: Fort-.**"

The Taurus lost control of its footing and began to roll down the hill out of control. Its body flew right by where Nathan was at and crashed headfirst into a boulder, smashing it into pieces. After its body flew up in the air and landed back down, the Grimm didn't get back up as its body grew limp.

Nathan stared at the Taurus' apparent demise, dumbfounded by the luck of not having to do anything drastic. Looking to his front again, Nathan immediately took back his notion about luck as the avalanche from before was almost upon him.

Nathan immediately took out his sword and lifted it into the air again. Right before the avalanche crashed into Nathan, he slammed the blade into the ground, creating a wall of ice.

The avalanche slammed into the wall with a resounding crash. Thanks to the wall, the avalanche was diverted towards both sides, preventing Nathan from getting swallowed into the sea of white death.

However, the wall started to break as the avalanche continued to stream down the mountain. Soon, it broke and the avalanche moved forward, only to be stopped by another wall of ice.

Nathan created several layers of ice behind the first wall he made. Although it bought him a few minutes, Nathan knew that he could do nothing else but brace himself for the inevitable outcome.

Soon, the avalanche broke through most of the layers and was at the final one. The moment the last layer broke, the avalanche flooded onto Nathan, who could do nothing but lift his shield as his last resort.

Nathan's body became swept up by the wave. As he tried to withstand the flow of the avalanche, the endless flow of snow and ice buried him deeper inside, causing Nathan to black out as he lost the energy to stay awake.

* * *

"Nate! Nate! Where are you Nate!?"

Looking up, Nathan saw a young girl wearing a white dress descend from the top of a snowy hill and start to run across the clear snowy plains. Smiling at the sight, Nathan got up to greet the girl while he straightened the dress suit that he was wearing for the afternoon.

As the girl ran towards Nathan, she cried out, "Nate! There you are. You're supposed to answer when I call out for you, not stand there like a slack-jawed idiot!"

Feeling slightly embarrassed by the insult, Nathan replied, "I'm sorry Milady, but I thought it would be better if I greeted you up close rather than from far away."

The girl shot Nathan a look as she said, "Look, we're friends, so you don't have to call me that like your dad does with my mom. And you're supposed to answer me in a loud voice. How are you going to be my Contractor later if you don't have the guts to answer loudly?"

Confused, Nathan asked, "Wait, then wouldn't becoming a Contractor have me call you 'Milady' since my dad is also a Contractor?"

Nathan fell down in pain as the girl, angry by the comment, ended up punching him hard in the stomach. Looking down at the boy, the girl said, "Like my dad says to me, don't be a smart ass Nate or it's just going to backfire when I figure it out."

Getting up from the ground with hand on stomach, Nathan tried to stand still with his face grimacing in pain.

Feeling guilty by the sight, the girl said, "Here, move your hand. I'll help you heal it."

Removing his hand, Nathan saw the girl place her hand over the sore spot and started to rub it while saying, "Pain, pain, go away. Come again some other day. Pain, pain, go away. Leave this spot and stay away."

By the time she was done, Nathan didn't feel the pain get any better. But seeing his friend do it in this manner made him mind the pain less, which helped as much as if the pain was gone.

"So, feeling better?"

Seeing the girl before him smile made Nathan look away, while trying to cover the blush on his face. Trying not to stutter, Nathan replied, "U-uh yeah. It feels a lot better. Your mom's special chant works, so of course it's better."

As he saw her smile wide from the comment, Nathan decided to use the moment to take out a red emblem that had the insignia of a golden lion in the middle of it. Presenting the girl with the emblem, Nathan said, "Here, this is for you."

As the girl took the emblem, she asked, "Isn't this your dad's emblem? He got it from my dad the day he first became his Contractor."

Kneeling down onto one knee, Nathan replied, "I know. That was also when we first met each other. And I kind of remember how the ceremony went when dad became a full Contractor. Do you?"

The girl gasped slightly from the sight of Nathan kneeling down, just like the time Nathan's dad did when he was about to become a full Contractor. As Nathan kneeled, the girl regained her composure and stood straight up in front of Nathan.

After clearing her throat, the girl said in a serious tone, "_, as you stand here today, do you promise to uphold your duty to protect the standing of this institution, along with the life of its leaders?"

Ignoring the blank where his name should have been said, Nathan replied, "Yes, I, as a Contractor, will dedicate my entire service to upholding this institution, and serve for as long as my life remains bound in this service."

Nodding in agreement of this, the girl walked up to Nathan as he stood up. Taking the edge of his dress coat in one hand, the girl used her other hand to place the emblem onto the collar of Nathan's shirt.

As the girl took a step back, she saw that Nathan was now wearing the emblem proudly, and the sun's shine on the emblem made the sight look majestic.

Before Nathan can act out the next part of the ceremony, the girl gave him a big hug on the spot, making Nathan stop and start to blush madly from the intimate contact.

While Nathan tried to keep himself calm, he saw the girl look up from his shoulder and ask, "Do you really promise that? Will you really be there when I need you to protect me?"

Now looking straight into the girl's eyes, Nathan was about to reply when the girl stepped back while quickly adding, "Um, of course, I only need you there when my honor is being tarnished. If we ever talk about a Grimm or some cretin attacking me, then I can take care of myself just fine."

Nathan smiled at the spoken comment. He knew that she was a strong individual, so of course he expected her to say something like that.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Nathan boldly proclaimed to the girl, "I'll always protect you, Weiss. Whether it's you or your honor, I'll be there to defend it from every kind of threat."

The girl just stood there in shock, surprised that the timid, quiet boy from before made such a bold promise. After several moments had passed, Weiss smiled as she lifted her pinky up in front of Nathan.

"Is that a promise?"

Raising his own pinky and encircling it around the Weiss' own, Nathan replied, "I promise. For all my life."

Just as he let go of her pinky, Weiss' smile suddenly started to drop, replaced by a frown that Nathan didn't understand.

Suddenly, the beautiful background of a snowy plain started to disappear and the sunlight became incredibly dim. In place of this scenery, a large field of fire came into view, with flames engulfing everything that once made the snowy plains beautiful.

Nathan recoiled in surprise as he saw Weiss turn around and walk into the inferno. Trying to stop her, Nathan tried to catch her while yelling, "Weiss!? WEISS!? Where are you going? Don't go in there!"

But Weiss didn't stop walking. Soon, the inferno sprung up and swallowed up Weiss with its dark red flames. The same red flames then directed its fury towards Nathan, who tried to put it out as it got on his clothes.

Trying to back away from the fire in vain, Nathan could do nothing but stare back to where Weiss was in helplessness.

"WEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIISSSS!"

* * *

Nathan woke up with the cold darkness surrounding his vision. As he tried to move, he found that most of his body was trapped in the ground now surrounding him while his head was under a large ceiling made of ice and snow.

Trying to free himself from his trapped position, Nathan checked the rest of his body to make sure that everything was okay. When he felt that nothing was missing, Nathan deduced that his body was still in one piece, despite the pain he felt from his chilly prison.

As Nathan tried to think of a way out, the dizziness in his head and his hard breathing indicated that if he doesn't get out soon, then he'll die from lack of oxygen if the cold doesn't get to him first.

Looking around, Nathan saw the familiar handle of his blade sticking out from a wall of snow near him. Using his free hand, Nathan tried to reach out for the blade with fingers barely grazing the tip of the handle. After several seconds, Nathan saw that he couldn't reach it and allowed his exhausted arm to collapse.

Nathan felt his consciousness start to slip again as he felt the need to sleep increase. However, he knew that if he slept, then it will be the last slumber he would need in his lifetime.

Nathan kept struggling, hoping that he would find a way out. The struggle only added onto to his fatigue, eventually forcing Nathan to stop when he couldn't move anymore.

As his consciousness started to fade again, his mind suddenly saw his teacher, giving him a dark scowl as he had a large stick in hand ready to strike Nathan for any behavior he deemed unnecessary.

"_So, sleeping on the job again? I thought I told you to stay awake when your life is on the line, not do the opposite. What are you, some amateur that even a Beowolf can beat? Pathetic!"_

His teacher, or 'sensei,' brought down the stick onto his head. Although none of this was real, Nathan somehow lost his exhaustion, which was replaced by the familiar ache of the stick smashing him on his head.

"_Okay, you're awake again. Good, get up so we can get this lesson over with, rookie….okay, wait, so what was my lesson again? Hmm, kind of forgot so you're going to have to make one up for yourself."_

Seeing this particular image of his relaxed sensei made Nathan angry, never getting over the fact that his own teacher could get so lazy when it came to giving some of his lessons.

"_But, if you want to get out of this alive, I suggest you use your Aura. I mean seriously, how can you ever forget one of the important basics as a Contractor? You know what? If you're so willing to die, then just do it. That way, you can just save me the trouble of ever wondering why you inherited this ARMR in the first place."_

That comment was the last straw. As his body was building up a white glow in tandem with his rising anger, Nathan soon let out a shout of frustration that released a sphere of energy from his body.

The sphere grew large and blasted through the entire icy prison in a snowy dust. As the dust settled to the ground, Nathan stood there, breathing heavily as his body was finally free from its cold imprisonment.

Picking up his sword and the shield that was uncovered by the explosion, Nathan climbed out of the hole that the explosion made and saw that he was near the bottom of the mountain.

The base was now covered in large snowy piles that were created by the avalanche. Looking up, Nathan also noticed that the blizzard had stopped. Only a steady stream of snow fell while the afternoon sun peeked out from the cover of the gray clouds above.

As Nathan looked around to survey the damage, he noticed that there was no sign of the Taurus. Thinking that his objective was complete, Nathan started to head back home and hope that he can still get to the castle to see the event.

Suddenly, a loud roar can be heard from a pile of snow that was at the same place where Nathan last saw the Grimm. Groaning at the sound of the roar, Nathan turned towards the pile and readied his shield again for any unexpected attacks.

The Taurus came charging out of the pile and ran into Nathan at top speed, now angry with bright red eyes shining violently from the eye sockets of its broken mask.

The sudden rush in speed surprised Nathan as he barely got his shield up in time and activate it before the Taurus ran into him. A large glyph shined from the shield again as the Taurus ran into it with all its power.

After the Taurus collided with the shield, Nathan ended up flying in the air and straight into a forest of trees nearby. On the other hand, the Taurus was thrown far in the opposite direction, blown away by the glyph's ability to rebound its force.

Both Nathan and the Taurus landed onto the ground and, after several seconds of no movement, struggled to get back up and resume the fight.

Nathan tried to stand up with all his strength, but the force of the previous attack has drained most of strength, leaving him too weak to continue the fight.

Unfortunately, the Taurus was already back on its feet, pawing the ground and getting ready to finish off Nathan with its next attack. As soon as Nathan looked at it in the eye while leaning against his shield, the Taurus let out a roar and charged at Nathan with all its power.

As he watched the charging Taurus get closer, Nathan thought, "_Sh-Shoot, I-I can't get up. Is this it? Is this- no, I ca-can't die. Not before I see her again."_

Nathan kept watching the Taurus, who was now closing in seconds, milliseconds, then nanoseconds…..wait, what?

Nathan's vision suddenly darkened. In surprise, he closed his eyes, hoping he can regain it. Instead, his vision gave a brief flash of light before he found himself standing in the middle of a large space of darkness.

* * *

"_Good gosh, am I having another mental breakdown? Ever since I had this ARMR, I had to deal with this issue."_

As Nathan stood frozen on the spot, he saw images of past events and people flashing by before him. Trying to aim his focus onto each image, Nathan was able to make out the ones that were the most important to him.

In one image, Nathan saw his father standing tall while wearing the same armor that Nathan was wearing. Another image came up, where Nathan saw his sister smiling and waving at him with furry ears wagging while standing next to his sensei who was smiling at him with his usual cocky grin.

The images suddenly started to slow down and disappear in the darkness. Soon, most of them disappeared until one image was left.

In this image stood Weiss, now older and looking exactly as she did on the holo-news from a couple of days ago. As he saw her standing before him, he started to feel happy from seeing his childhood friend again.

The image of Weiss looked down at Nathan. Holding out her hand with her pinky raised, she extended it to Nathan, as if expecting him to take it with his own pinky like he did in his dream.

"_Is that a promise, Nate? Will you hold true to it and protect me now, even if you couldn't do it before?"_

Shocked and hurt by the comment, Nathan found that he couldn't lean forward, only stare at her hand. As he stared, he remembered why that promise doesn't hold as much meaning as before.

"_Do you still want me to keep that promise? It's been too long Weiss….I don't know if I can keep it after keeping it broken for so long."_

After saying this, Nathan saw Weiss retract her hand, while displaying her own expression of pain.

Weiss turned around and started to walk away while disappearing into the darkness that was right behind her.

"_If that is a no, then so be it. You don't have to keep our promise. I'll keep moving forward, even if I am alone."_

Right as soon as Nathan saw Weiss disappear into the darkness behind her, he felt his mind and heart break at the sight. He suddenly felt more cold and alone than he has felt throughout his entire life.

"…_..Stop…..Weiss, I…. still want to keep that promise. I really do."_

Nathan's surroundings started to lighten as the darkness faded away. Soon, an image of Nathan's armor came into view along with sword and shield appeared crossing across each other in a large x.

"_So please, don't go back there. Don't….don't be alone."_

The armor in front of Nathan started to glow brightly, shining in the colors that adorned the armor's outer covering. Both sword and shield started to shine as well as lines started to appear, making both weapons separate into many pieces.

"_I want to be there for you….so please come back. I don't want to see you hurt again….or ever have myself hurt you again."_

Nathan's entire armor unleashed a huge light. In front of it, both weapons gave out the same light and unleashed eight unidentifiable objects that took flight into the sky.

* * *

Time started to flow normally again, and the Taurus that was charging in slow motion picked up speed with the restored flow of time. As it charged, the Taurus saw Nathan looking back at it with empty eyes, which made it go faster to finally finish off its target.

A white light suddenly flashed across the Taurus' eyes. Despite the temporary loss of its vision, the Taurus resumed its charge to finish off the weakened warrior.

However, the Taurus only found empty air as it ran over the spot where Nathan should have been at. Stopping its charge and looking around, the Taurus looked up and saw something move in the sky.

Standing in mid-air was Nathan whose armor was glowing in bright colors of blue, white, and red. On his back were two small thrusters blowing out fumes which kept the body in mid-air.

Nathan's right hand held onto his sword's handle that lacked its white blade. In his left hand was what looked like the circular center of the shield, surrounded by the four petals of red energy that replaced the previous metallic cover. At the center of the shield, red and orange lines formed the image of a lion letting out a mighty roar.

The Taurus started to look wearily at Nathan as it saw that his eyes were no longer looking at death. Instead, Nathan's eyes looked sharper and brighter than ever, as if powered by the sun that was shining right behind him. With eyes now sporting a golden color, Nathan took a deep breath as his gray hair transformed into a radiant white color.

Nathan raised his bladeless handle into the air. A second later, eight triangular objects appeared out of nowhere, glistening under the afternoon sun with their gray and white metallic coverings. When Nathan brought down the handle of his blade, the objects slowly flew down to the Taurus and surrounded the Grimm in a small circle.

The Taurus merely ignored the threat and started to lean into a crouching position. Using its powerful legs, the Grimm jumped straight towards Nathan.

As the Taurus was about to reach Nathan with its horns, Nathan reacted by placing the handle back into the shield's sheath as he used his other arm to bring the shield up. Suddenly, the Taurus rammed into a field of red energy that instantly extended from Nathan's shield.

Unable to overcome the shield's defense, the Taurus ended up falling back towards the ground. As soon as it landed, the triangular objects, also known as Drops, encircled the Taurus again while their tips were now glowing with pure energy.

When the Drops finished charging, Nathan brought up one open hand in front of him, then closed it.

The Drops bombarded the surrounded Grimm with laser beams, striking every part of the body as they circled around it, as if dancing with the rhythm of their attacks. As the Drops continued to fire, Nathan moved his arms around, orchestrating the entire scenario happening below him.

Although the beams were not powerful enough to finish it off, the Taurus roared in pain as the beams left small traces of burns all around its body. The Taurus ignored the pain and jumped again, continuing its effort to finish off the flying Assistant Contractor.

As the Taurus flew through the air, Nathan allowed his body to drop before flying through the air straight towards the Taurus' underside. Nathan slammed into the Taurus while using his shield as a battering ram, forcing the Grimm to fall back down to ground a second time.

Nathan pulled one of his arms back, which signaled two gray Drops to fly towards the Taurus. When the Drops positioned themselves in front of the face, Nathan snapped his fingers and watched as the Drops unleashed an explosion of energy.

With eyesight lost and anger reaching its boiling point, the Taurus started to toss its head around, rampaging as it tried to hit its assailants. However, the Drops merely drifted away as they continued to fire, weakening the blind Grimm with their never-ending onslaught.

Two of the Drops started to glow in a green color , then dart under the Taurus in blinding speed. As they went through its underside, the objects slashed through all of the legs, causing the Taurus to lose balance and unintentionally let out a wild swing that propelled it against a nearby tree.

After the Taurus crashed into the tree, Nathan placed his shield onto his back and use both hands to grasp the sword handle. At the same time, all of the Drops moved out of the way, creating a clear path between Nathan and the Taurus.

By the time Nathan got into his battle stance, the black handle unleashed a beam of light from its top, creating a laser blade humming with energy . With blade at ready, Nathan's thrusters reached maximum power and thrust Nathan towards the Taurus.

Just as he reached the Taurus and took out his blade, Nathan yelled, "**Iai: Final Measure!" **and swung his sword with all his strength.

When he finished swinging his sword, Nathan slowly descended onto the ground and turned off the energy from his sword and shield. The Drops slowly descended onto Nathan's position and placed themselves onto the weapons, reforming the sword's blade and the shield's metallic covering.

Slowly, Nathan placed his sword back into the shield's sheathe. Just as he clicked the sword into place, the heavy thud of the dead Taurus and a tree hitting the ground radiated throughout the entire forest.

Nathan placed the shield on his back and stood back up, confident that he finished his task. Looking behind him to make sure, Nathan saw that his last attack had cut straight through the Taurus and the tree that was behind it.

"_I-I'm finally finished. Now….I can go see her again."_

Nathan started walking towards the exit of the forest, determined to get to the event on time. However, his body suddenly gave out beneath him and in the next moment, Nathan's eyes slammed shut as his mind shut down.

Before he became unconscious, Nathan quietly whispered, "I'll be there….Weiss."

Now unmoving on the ground beneath him, Nathan's body remained still as the snow around him continued to fall, unfazed by the battle that has occurred.

A figure covered in a thin suit of black armor walked up to the body as his long black hair flung wildly against the blizzard. With a hand placed upon the red handle of his sword, the figure was snickering at the sight of both Nathan and the damage from the battle.

"Well, rookie. You made it out alive. And look, you were able to activate your ARMR again; your dad would be so proud right now. For me, I'm disappointed that you passed out like a wuss after using it with such poor skill."

Picking up Nathan's body with his armored glove and tossing it body over his shoulder, the figure now laughed loudly as he turned around and started to head to an unknown location.

* * *

Standing behind a large stage, Weiss saw that the next performance was almost done, which meant that it was her turn next. As she straightened her back and adjusted her skirt, she saw her butler, Sebastian Leflar, approach her after coming through a door.

As Sebastian moved towards her, she gave him a small smile as she asked, "So is everything okay? I heard that there was trouble that almost cancelled our event for today."

Shaking his head in disagreement, Sebastian stood at rapt attention as he said, "No, Milady. The situation has been handled, so there is no need to worry. Just relax and give the people your best performance."

Now frowning from her butler's remark, Weiss turned around and walked up the stairs to the stage while saying, "Well, all I need to do is get this over with. After that, I can just go back to sleep and continue my preparations for Beacon tomorrow."

Before Weiss went to her spot in front of the stage's curtains, she turned her head to Sebastian and asked, "Sebastian, I noticed that one of the seats was empty. Do you happen to know the reason for this absence?"

Taking a moment to think of a reply, Sebastian brought up a straight face as he said, "I do not know, Milady. Perhaps something important has come up, so the occupant couldn't make it on time."

As Weiss heard this, she gave a small frown and said, "Well, that seat is a good spot. If that person couldn't make, make sure to mark that down so we can give it to somebody who could actually attend, rather than waste it."

Weiss turned around and continued walking towards her spot on the stage. As she kept walking, Sebastian kept watch and smiled as he saw the curtains open in front of Weiss.

When she was out of earshot, Sebastian said to no one in particular, "Yes Milady. I'll be sure to have that seat ready for a more **important** person at your next performance."

* * *

A/N:

Hey everybody. For those of you reading this and enjoying the content, glad I could keep doing it for you.

Unfortunately, there is going to be another chapter about Nathan because I did not put everything that I wanted to write in here. And yes, there will be more OC's, although there will be a cameo appearance again in the next chapter. Hint: It's the same person.

Also, definitions for this chapter:

-Iai: Yes, it's the same sword style that Adam used in the Black trailer. And yes, I thought it looked cool, so I had to give it to this character. His way of saying it kind of came from Roronoa Zoro, which I thought was cool when the subtitles bolded every time he said it. Also, the sword style is not going follow the same concept, as you read, and if you noticed it in one of the paragraphs, Nathan is going to have a unique kind of sword style revealed later.

-Strato Nimbus, Drops, Tidal Storm: Nathan's weapons are based off of names related to the weather. I think the sword is going to be the only weapon in the ONYX team that will be based on the trend of recoil weapons we saw in RWBY.

Again, review and/or PM if you want me to want to complain or comment on the work. Also, remember to stay warm in the winter. Wouldn't want to catch a 'frost' bite while you're out there.


	4. Keeping the Promise

Chapter 4: Keeping the Promise

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content, including part of the lyrics below.)

* * *

Nathan heard a lot of clashes echoing in the distance as his mind regained consciousness. Feeling a large amount of heat radiating around his body, Nathan opened his eyes and saw fire raging across the land around him.

Nathan sat frozen in fear at the sight, feeling as if the fire was going give him a deadly embrace, just like the ones that haunted his nightmares.

As he looked around, Nathan saw a familiar silver-haired figure standing in the distance while wearing a silver colored armor that was laced all over with streaks of gold going. While he stood standing there with sword out and shield at ready, piles of dead Grimm surrounded the man, indicating that a large battle has taken place not too long ago.

Suddenly, a Taurus appeared out of nowhere and lowered its head, getting ready to strike the lone armored warrior with its deadly horns.

Looking up at the scene, Nathan hurriedly cried out, "Dad, watch out!"

When his father turned his head, Nathan saw that his aged face had traces of blood falling from his head and over his facial features. Seeing the Taurus approaching, Nathan's father placed his sword right above his head.

Disappearing in a flash of light, he was gone. A moment later, the Taurus' body stopped just as Nathan's father reappeared a couple of feet away behind it.

Large amounts of golden fire instantly erupted and encased the Taurus's body. As the roaring Taurus continued to burn in a cloak of fire, Nathan's father sheathed his sword back into the shield. Soon, the Taurus fell over, smoking as the fire kept burning, turning it into ashes moments later.

With the Taurus dead, Nathan saw his father look at him and slowly walk towards him with a grimaced face.

"Nathan? What are you doing here? Don't you know that it's not safe to be here?!"

Feeling hurt and scared by his father's sharp tone, Nathan nervously replied, "I-I'm here to help. There's no way you can do this by yourself."

Nathan saw that his father started to become angry. As he walked over to Nathan, he told Nathan in a louder voice, "You need to get out of here! It's not safe, and you're still too young to do something like this!"

As his father said this, Nathan saw something come up behind his father with a sharp object in hand. The object was raised high into the air just as Nathan cried out, "Dad! Beh-."

Nathan's warning never came out in time. The object came down and out of the front side of his father's body, now bloody from piercing through the chest. Then, the mysterious assailant pulled the object out of the body, which made Nathan's father become limp and fall onto the ground beside Nathan.

As Nathan watched the body started to bleed blood into the ground in horror, he didn't notice that the figure has raised the object again, this time aimed straight at Nathan.

Nathan's father saw it and immediately pushed Nathan out of the way, making the descending weapon miss its target.

As Nathan landed further from his father, he saw his father reach out with a bloody hand towards Nathan while shouting, "Run, while you still can!" The assailant beside him raised the weapon into the air and stuck his father for the last time.

From the fire's bright flame, Nathan saw that the figure had a white cloak surrounding its body. Looking straight at Nathan's bewildered face with its cloaked face, it approached him with its bloody weapon cast to his side.

Nathan did not take heed of the approaching danger. Instead, he kept staring at his Father's bloody form on the ground that did not display any signs of life.

Scared and alone, Nathan could only feel the tears falling along with each step the cloaked figure made onto his paralyzed form. When he felt he could no longer hold it, Nathan let out a sob as he cried out, "DAAAAAD!"

* * *

"Stop flailing, you stupid brat! I am not your dad!"

Nathan felt his sore body slam into the hard, cold ground. With teary eyes now open, Nathan saw that he was staring at a dark sky. Looking to his left and right, he saw that his surroundings were covered in snow rather than the fire that was blazing through it in his dream.

Sitting up on the spot, Nathan saw that a giant castle was front of him, standing strong and tall while silhouetted against the darkened sky with its pure white exterior.

"Well? Are you awake now, you brat? And calling for your father, how pathetic! How many times do I need to repeat this?! The battlefield has no place for crybabies, especially for future Contractors like you!"

Quickly rubbing the tears from his eyes, Nathan looked behind him and saw his sensei standing in front of him with black thin armor covering his entire body. With arms crossed, his sensei kept looking at Nathan with a pale scarred face as his long black hair flowed with the wind behind him.

When his sensei saw Nathan awake and alert, he relaxed his arms and placed his left arm onto the hilt of a red sword handle. He then raised his right hand and started to scratch his short beard with a small smirk forming on his face.

"Well, it looks like you heard my explanation. Consider that a lesson for the day, so don't nag me for another one, like you usually do."

Now frowning at the man before him, Nathan looked down and saw that he had his overcoat back on him. Looking around, Nathan realized that they were in a familiar, if not important, location.

"Where are we? And how did you find me all the way out near the mountains?"

Shaking his head, Nathan's sensei replied, "We're in front of the castle in the city, and I carried your body here, nitwit. For a future Contractor, you sure don't know how to take notice of the obvious information. Makes me scared to think anybody can entrust you with a job, let alone clean up any mistakes you make."

Nathan ignored the snide remarks and looked at the castle's dual doors in front of him. Remembering where he was supposed to be, Nathan hurriedly asked, "Sensei, how long did it take for us to get here? And what time is it?

Nathan's sensei was picking his ear while he replied, "I dunno. But that princess of yours is singing on the stage, so I'm guessing that it took us a while to get here."

Shocked at the news, Nathan quickly got up and ran straight into the castle. While he ran through the castle doors, he heard his sensei shout out, "You're welcome, you ungrateful brat!"

* * *

Nathan ran deep into the castle as his heart beat wildly from the suspense of whether or not he was going to make it.

"**Mirror, mirror, what's behind you? Save me from the things I see!"**

Hearing a familiar melody sung by Weiss, Nathan pumped his sore legs faster, hoping he'll get there in time to at least see the finale.

"**I can keep it from the world. Why won't you let me hide from me?"**

Nathan was now running at top speed across the large hallway. Rounding around a corner, Nathan saw two guards up ahead of him blocking the entrance that led to the stage where Weiss was singing at.

Taking notice of Nathan, one of the guards pointed at him while shouting, "Stop! You are not allowed past this point!" while the other guard took out a pistol and aimed it at Nathan.

"**Mirror, mirror, tell me something."**

Nathan didn't stop running. When the guard shot his pistol at Nathan, Nathan already had his shield out and in front of him as he ran on with several bullets bouncing off the shield.

As the guard with the pistol ran out of bullets and the other guard was trying to take his own gun out, Nathan barreled through the guards with shield in front and ran straight through the entrance doors.

"**Who's the loneliest of all!"**

Nathan's legs started to slow down as he tried to stay quiet for the large audience that was sitting in the numerous seats around him. As Nathan walked up to the end of the narrow aisle he entered, he saw Weiss in the distance, standing still with eyes closed and singing what he knew was the last part of the song.

"**I'm the loneliest of all."**

As the final word resonated from her voice, the falling snow around Weiss started to slow down, as if reacting to the sad emotion that came out from the final note.

Nathan saw her look up at the audience that was now applauding from her performance. White flowers and other colorful objects were thrown at Weiss as the people now stood with applause that thundered across the large area.

Weiss gave a brief glance at the moon through a large hole located at the ceiling. Then with a curtsy, she gave a bow as the curtains closed, thus ending her performance for the night.

Nathan kept clapping his own hands, even as the applause around him quieted down and the people left their seats and headed for the exits. Although the song was sad for him to hear, Nathan couldn't help but keep the smile he had on his face ever since he has entered the area.

"_Weiss, I'm sorry for being late….but I'm glad to see you again, even if this is the first after many years and maybe the last."_

Although Nathan couldn't be there for Weiss' entire performance, he felt mostly content, although a bit sad, to be able to see his former friend beyond the Boundary again.

As he turned around to leave, he saw that one of the guards from before stood there with three more guards standing at ready behind him.

Sighing from knowing what was coming next, Nathan raised his hands into the air, surrendering to the authorities in front of him.

Despite Nathan's willingness to cooperate, the guard in front of him grumbled, "Gray-haired scum," and slammed his fist into Nathan's face.

As Nathan fell back from the force of the attack and the guards started to surround him, his last thought that came out was, "_Oh no, not again."_

* * *

All four guards dragged Nathan's weary body out of the castle's front gate. When they were close enough to the snow-covered ground, they threw the body out into the air.

Nathan groaned in pain as he felt his beaten body impact the ground again. Laughing from the sight, all four guards went back inside as one of them said, "Good riddance to you, you stupid defect. Rot out in the cold, where you belong!"

Nathan picked himself up and took a moment to look at the castle behind him just in time to see the two front doors loudly close shut. Nathan sighed as he remained on the ground and kept his view at the doors, lost in thought.

When Nathan was ready, he gathered all his strength and turned around while mentally preparing for the long trek home. As he kept walking, Nathan saw his sensei standing nearby, eating a large apple that was in his hand.

Swallowing the piece of apple he ate, Nathan's sensei said, "So, did you go up on stage and propose to her? Cause it looked like you got rejected. And man, in front of a large audience? That would have been a riot."

Nathan ignored the comment and walked past his sensei as he focused on getting home.

Nathan's sensei used his free hand to grab onto Nathan's shoulder while saying, "Hey, I'm talking to you! Look at me and answer me like a man!"

Turning his face with an exhausted look, Nathan looked at his sensei with his sky-blue eyes and tiredly asked, "Y-yes Frost Sensei? What can I do for you?"

When the black-armored figure saw that Nathan's face had a large bruise on the spot where he was struck, the older teacher couldn't help but show a look of concern.

Examining Nathan's face with one hand, Frost threw his apple to the side with the other while asking in a softer tone, "What, did the guards only leave you with a bruise this time? I hope that's it, otherwise anything more is going to make me want to gather some….life compensation, like the last time you were mauled.

Nathan shuddered a bit when he remembered how a group of guards harassed him when they saw him walking in the same vicinity he was in right now. What was even scarier was when the man in front of him left the same group in a bloody mess and in dire need of emergency care.

Shaking his head, Nathan replied, "No, I'm fine Sensei. I think it's good if we both go home now, before things here start to get any colder."

Nodding his head in agreement, Frost gave Nathan's face a small pat before walking in the same direction that Nathan was on to head home. As Nathan joined him, Frost said, "I really need to teach you how to get violent with the guards. This 'gentle' nature of yours won't keep you alive, especially in one piece."

"So, even the great Frost Invierno has a soft spot for kids. That's absolutely cute, yet unbecoming when you ruined it with that last comment of yours."

Turning around, both Nathan and Frost saw Sebastian standing there with a wide smile. Walking up to the two, Sebastian continued, "But it's great to see you alive, Sir Nathan. And I'm sorry that you couldn't make it to the performance today. Lady Weiss has given a grand performance; you should have been there to see it."

While Frost was giving Sebastian a glare, Nathan gave a calm, yet sad look of his own as he replied, "It's alright, Mr. Leflar. Being able to see Weiss again was enough to make this evening worth something. I'm even happier to see that nothing went wrong, even after I defeated the Taurus."

Sebastian displayed a shocked expression as he replied, "Ah, yes. The Taurus; I apologize for not notifying you earlier. With all of the preparations going on, that piece of information slipped right out of my mind. I hope things weren't too difficult for you today."

Nathan smiled as he saw his acquaintance's worried look. As Nathan shook his head to imply that things were fine, Sebastian replied, "And once again, excellent work on this assignment. As your reward, I can always take note of it and have a bill present from the company."

Nathan replied, "No, it's fine. I know that it took some effort to get me in the seating register under a different name, so taking care of the Taurus is the least I can do."

Just as Nathan finished this comment, his sensei let out a small groan, while muttering the words, "You're going to regret that later," with a huge sigh.

As Sebastian continued smiling, he said, "That sounds very noble of you, unlike the man who had any skill at all to become your teacher. But as I am here to check up on your state, I would also like to update you on the selection process for who is going to Beacon Academy."

Nathan's eyes widened, now renewed with energy from excitement, and asked, "D-Did I get in?! Will I be able to go?!"

Shaking his head, Sebastian replied, "No. As I have said, I am here to tell you about the progress, not the result, so please patiently listen to what I have to say next."

Nathan's expression became calm, yet his body felt suspense as Sebastian continued, "Now as you know, the final decision on who will ultimately go with Lady Weiss to Beacon Academy will be up to both her and one person asked to review the process. With this in mind, please know that although you have a chance to be selected, there are other Apprentices who have the chance of going as well."

At the last part of the news, Nathan started to feel a little depressed while Frost kept silent and give Sebastian a deeper glare.

Walking up to Nathan and placing a comforting hand onto his shoulder, Sebastian said, "I know things might not work out the way you want it to go. However, please know that as long as you're here or anywhere else, your future service to both Lady Weiss and the people will always be appreciated."

Nathan looked up and smiled at Sebastian for one last time before turning around and heading back home with a heavy heart. When Nathan was far enough from earshot, Sebastian started to turn and make his own departure back to the castle. Before he could take another step, Frost suddenly brought up his hand and grabbed Sebastian by the collar of his shirt.

As he kept his grip hard, Frost gave Sebastian an intense glare while he angrily said, "So, that's it? That's all you have to say after everything the kid has been through? He deserves better than that, especially when both you and I know what he went through to get where he is today!"

Looking back at Frost with an empty smile, Sebastian said, "I can't sympathize with that kind of personal progress when considering the future of Lady Weiss and the company, so I just gave him an honest opinion. And aren't you saying something out of your place, especially when you were dishonorably released as a Contractor yourself?"

Throwing Sebastian's body to the side, Frost angrily reached for his katana and stood at ready. As Sebastian took his own stance, Frost saw that he was reaching for something that was glistening on his waist and shoes.

Frost decided that now wasn't a good time to get the anger get the best of him and decided to calm himself. As he did this, Sebastian also came up in a relaxed position and put his hands away from the hidden objects.

While standing up, Sebastian shook off the dust on his clothes and asked, "So another time, Mr. Ex-Contractor?"

Looking back at Sebastian with a feral grin, Frost replied, "Yeah, and when I find a good reason to beat you to a bloody pulp, I'll also extend that same gesture to your bosses, you fake butler."

Wiping the snow from his clothes and letting out a throaty chuckle, Sebastian retorted, "I would invite you to do that, but that would be unwise for the sake of our 'responsibilities,' don't you think so?"

When the two felt that they finished exchanging enough remarks for the time being, they both went their separate ways, with Frost heading back to Nathan's side and Sebastian walking back to the castle.

* * *

After trekking for an hour that involved passing through the Boundary and entering a small village, both Nathan and Frost reached their destination of a brown, two-story house. Before they went into the house, they both looked around and saw what appeared to be an unusual sight of green healthy plants growing in a small garden encircling the small house.

As Nathan walked up and opened the front door, he saw a flash of brown dart towards his way from the living room. Moving out of the way, Nathan saw that the brow blur ran into Frost and threw both of them into the snowy path.

"W-What the hell?! Amy?! You stupid dog, get off of me!"

As he tried to get a woman wearing a green blouse, long brown skirt, and a yellow apron off of him, Frost could only try in vain as Amy retaliated with her own strong grip encircled around his waist. While Frost struggled, slush from the snow started to get onto their clothes.

"Aww, but it's been several months now! I'm happy that you came back with Nathan, so why aren't you happy to see me?"

Amy kept her grip on an angry Frost with short brown hair flowing with the force of Frost's attempt to escape her hug. Her dog-like ears and tail kept shaking in delight, truly showing that she was happy to see him.

Nathan decided to break this up before Frost got angry at this, so he dropped off his weapons inside and said out loud, "Sis, I'm home. Is dinner ready, cause I'm starving."

Taking note of Nathan's words, Amy immediately released her grip, stood up, and ran to hug Nathan while saying, "Yeah, it's almost done! Hurry, get inside and clean up, because no brother of mine will end up cold and starving in this weather!"

Happy to see his caring sister go back inside the warm house after she hugged him, Nathan looked back and saw his sensei soaked from the brown slush that came from the melted snow.

As he got up, Frost came up to Nathan and patted his shoulder while he muttered, "Thanks rookie," before heading inside himself. Nathan followed suit and started to close the door when he heard his sister scream, "How many times do I have to say this?! No weapons and armor are allowed inside the dining room, especially the dirty ones! So get out and go clean up!"

Knowing that his sister has just dropped the first of many salvos for the upcoming struggle, Nathan immediately had his suit reform back into his shield. As the armor formed into the shield, Nathan stretched out his body that was covered entirely in a black jumpsuit.

Nathan started going up the stairs with his entire gear in his hands as he heard Frost yell back, "Screw that! I had a pretty hard day keeping up with your brother, so I'll take it off when I'm done with my beer!"

Hearing a spoon clatter on the floor, Nathan heard his sister yell back, "Rules are rules! If you can't follow it, I'll make you leave by choice or in pieces!"

Not showing a hint of care in his voice, Frost yelled back, " #$% your dull claws, they can't do a thing against the suit. And for someone who cares about rules, you sure like to break it when you're just as dirty as me, you stupid mutt!"

Nathan winced from hearing those words and the crash that followed afterwards. He sadly sighed as he entered his room while trying not to think about the mess he might see when he came back down later.

* * *

Weiss looked out of the window of the room she was in, taking in the calm view of snow falling to the ground from the dark skies above.

Although Weiss was enjoying this, she couldn't find it relaxing enough to divert her stress from the task before her. Turning her head to her front, Weiss felt the stress increase again as she saw numerous papers scattered on a large brown table.

Today was the last day for Weiss to pick who will be accompanying her to Beacon Academy as her Assistant Contractor, a recently made tradition that she is now made to follow as heiress to the Schnee Company. It wasn't good news for Weiss because not only did she have to make a good choice, but she had to make one right after her exhausting performance for the night.

Looking through the papers on the table in front of her, Weiss could only sigh as she saw and rejected every application she has seen. She knew most of the people on the papers, and honestly, she wasn't looking forward to spending four years with any of them, especially the ones who are out to get her for the worst reasons.

As she looked through the papers, Sebastian waited patiently on the other side of the table, while sipping some tea that he has recently brewed for him and Weiss. When he saw Weiss continue on with a disinterested look, he calmly asked, "Is something wrong, Lady Weiss? Do all of the choices seem so bad that your expression is just disgusted at the sight?"

Weiss continued looking through the papers while replying, "It's not only that, Sebastian. I was just wondering why I need to do this right before I need to go to sleep. And please don't respond; that was a rhetorical question, so I don't need any of your statements for the evening."

Knowing how the heiress hated his sarcastic and crude remarks, which the current generation has dubbed, 'trolling,' Sebastian continued to sip his tea as Weiss started to hastily go through the papers in front of her.

Sebastian decided that now seemed like a good time to start counting the seconds on his watch. As he watched each tick of the second hand's movement, Weiss' face expressions deepen slowly into something that can only be a mix of rage and exhaustion.

As he reached the final second, Weiss, at that same exact time, threw the rest of the papers into the air, while unconsciously hanging onto one of them in her left hand.

With a loud sigh of discontent, Weiss slammed her head into the table as she exclaimed, "None of these papers, none of these choices are the ones I want to have! Even the company's recommendations are worse than the regular entries!"

At this point, Sebastian was out of his seat and preparing another batch of tea with a machine on a different table. As he waited for the tea, Sebastian replied, "Then you can always leave the choice up to me; I'm sure that the Quagmires wouldn't mind having their son accompany you for **four** years."

Sebastian smiled in twisted delight as he heard Weiss groan at the sound of the last name. He knew that although the Quagmires are a prestigious family, they are also the same one trying to marry their unproductive son into Weiss' family.

Feeling her resolve to get this over with renewed thanks to the comment, Weiss took notice of the paper that was in her left hand. When she brought it up and scanned the contents, her eyes started to grow wide as she read the contents.

Weiss saw that this applicant has passed the Assistant Contractor exam with the highest marks on physical attributes, and even had some decent marks concerning his academic abilities. Even better, he already had experience in dealing with some notable threats that are at both in and outside of the kingdom.

Despite coming from a poor background, the applicant had displayed the training that could have rivaled the same kind any others would have received from a combat training institution.

In an overall view, he is strong and mentally competent, yet the psychological test shows that he mostly displayed traits of a meek and shy behavior.

Weiss saw that he had the potential to represent the company well and that he will be willing to adjust to any demands made by both her and the company. That was something she could look forward to during her stay at Beacon Academy.

"_But Nathan Osmond….this name, something seems so familiar about it."_

After a few moments of pondering, Weiss remembered a similar name come up. Remembering who else had such a name made Weiss immediately regret it as she became disheartened by the memories that came with it.

Pushing those feelings aside, Weiss saw that, aside from the name, everything else was perfect. With this in mind, Weiss raised the paper to Sebastian's face and declared, "I choose him!"

Sebastian has just finished bringing over the finished tea, and as he poured it into Weiss' empty cup, his face frowned upon seeing the name.

Rubbing his goatee as he took the paper from Weiss' hand, he solemnly said, "Please reconsider, Lady Weiss. Although I can vouch that he has some good qualities, I believe there are other choices you can pick that is better than this one."

Feeling frustrated from this unusual comment given by her lax and obedient butler, Weiss knew that she had to push for this choice, even if it means doing it in a difficult way.

"I have made my choice. He shows a lot of good traits that will serve both me and the company well, so why refuse at all? And as both my butler and chosen member to represent the review committee, will you disobey my will?"

Frowning at this, Sebastian replied, "If it is for the sake of your well-being, then yes. This man cannot be your choice; he has-."

"Has what? Experience and qualities that seem to be as good, if not better, than most of the others in this pile? He even passed the Assistant Contractor Exam, despite lacking any enrollment into any of the training institutions."

As he felt himself getting cornered, Sebastian firmly replied, "But he was raised outside the Boundary. If you have any consideration of your position, then you should understand that being affiliated with someone raised in such an area, especially with that hair color, is unwise. Even if he is your primary choice, the company will retaliate against the decision, so this cannot be up for discussion, Lady Weiss."

Although what Sebastian said was the main thought of concern, Weiss countered it by saying, "I don't really care about his hair color or his social position, and I doubt that the company will care as much as you say they do. Did you forget that one of our recent goals was to try and search for a way to reconnect with the people beyond the Boundary?"

Seeing that her words made Sebastian slightly twitch, Weiss continued, "We have lost our connection with the people because of the disparity created by this company's pride and insensitivity to the needs of others. It's because of that same disparity how we have even lost the best, like Sir Regal….. and Nate."

Sebastian raised his eyebrows in shock as he saw the heiress in front of him become strangely silent with a fallen face, as if she was in mourning. And although it was barely a whisper when she said it, Sebastian heard her say a name he knew was very precious to her; a name that belonged to someone who was known to be gone from this world.

"_Could she be picking this name because she remembered the incident from several years ago? It's ridiculous to think of it since it has been so long, yet how could I ever doubt Lady Weiss' concern for the lives that were lost?! It's even making her give me that sad expression; there's no way I could live with myself for allowing her to have such a face. But, maybe, if it's him, I can still…"_

Sighing loudly, Sebastian slowly stood up from his seat with a serious face and looked at Weiss. Weiss saw his stare and was about to continue the argument when Sebastian interrupted her by bringing his hand up in a halting gesture.

Placing the paper in front of his face and re-reading it, Sebastian said, "Alright, I will reconsider my previous decision. And if it makes you satisfied, I will present this decision to the board with my support."

Now smiling at this piece of news, Weiss said, "Thank you Sebastian. I knew I can count on you to understand," while Sebastian was gathering the papers around and under the table.

Sebastian gave Weiss a bow while smiling from the comment. Just as he rose up and turned towards the door, he let out a coy smile as he said, "I am humbly glad to be of service to you, Milady. So get some rest now; none of us would want you to 'turn the wrong way' like you did on that one sleepless night."

Sebastian closed the door on his way out, just in time to dodge a pen that Weiss threw at him for mentioning an embarrassing memory.

Regaining her composure, Weiss stood up with her cup of tea in hand and turned around to look at the falling snow again, now in peace as she relaxed from finishing her stressful assignment.

"_Whew, all of that drama just to make this decision. It's good to see that Sebastian still can't handle the situation when I pout. He's always been a doting butler like that."_

Weiss' face grew determined as her mind started to wander into thoughts about her future at Beacon Academy, the place where she intend to fulfill all of her goals.

"_And now, I'm sure there's nothing to stand in my way. And having this Assistant Contractor will make sure of it."_

* * *

After taking a shower, Nathan got out and dressed for dinner. He got into a pair of blue sweatpants and a yellow shirt with the insignia of a red and blue lion located on the right shoulder. Walking out of his room, Nathan came back down the stairs, ready to eat dinner.

In the dining room, Nathan saw a table full of food steaming from their bowls and plates. He also saw that Frost was on a nearby chair now clean, while wearing a plain white shirt along with a pair of brown khaki shorts.

A moment later, Nathan saw his sister come into the room. She was also wearing a clean set of clothes and was taking off her oven mitts, indicating that she just finished cooking.

"Come on Nathan, let's eat! Aside from this lazy bum, I know that you and I worked hard enough today to pile up an appetite!"

While Frost gave Amy a nasty look, Nathan smiled and sat down. After a moment of waiting, everybody started to dig into the large meal that was in front of them.

As Nathan took several pieces of steak from one plate, he heard Frost ask him, "So, did you clean up well?"

Nodding his head, Nathan automatically replied, "Yes."

Grinning at an idea, Frost asked, "Did you clean your weapons too?"

Again Nathan nodded, "Yes, both the outside and the inside."

"Did you already make plans to have me check the programming for modifications?"

"Yes."

"Did you let one out with a picture of your princess in hand before you came downstairs?"

"Ye-, excuse me?"

Nathan gave Frost a confusing look, while Amy, on the other hand, started to grow red from hearing this comment and gave Frost a warning glare.

Ignoring the glare, Frost continued, "Oh yeah, I forgot that you never do that. Listen rookie, cause here's a rare second lesson for you. When a man waits for a girl they like, they need to find some way to release the frustration, so what they do is…"

Frost never got the chance to finish when Amy slammed the table with one hand while revealing a set of claws in the other hand. Amy then unleashed several flashes of light and after a second passed, all of Frost's food was cut into many pieces.

Taking the hint of Amy's threat, Frost immediately stopped what he was saying and ate his food in silence.

Smiling from seeing that her action produced the desired result, Amy went back to eating her food as well. While Nathan kept looking between the two in confusion, he saw Frost lean over and whisper, "We'll talk about it another time. If I don't tell you myself, then you might figure it out the wrong way."

"I heard that! Don't you ever dare fill my pure brother up with dirty thoughts, you pervert!"

As the loud, but tolerable banter between Frost and Amy went on, everybody continued to eat dinner until all of the food was almost gone.

When Amy saw that Nathan finished his last dish with a satisfying smile, Amy happily took his empty plate while asking, "So, how did the assignment go? Did you get a nice reward for taking down the Grimm?"

Right as she said this, Nathan then realized how his sensei knew where he could find him earlier today. Feeling grateful, Nathan replied, "Well, I was able to fight off the Grimm, but I wouldn't have made it without Frost Sensei. So thanks, sis."

Smiling at his response while coming back from the kitchen, Amy sat back in her seat and placed a bowl of nuts onto the table.

"Well, you know me. Your sister has to be there for you, even when it's by her wits alone."

Taking a piece of nut, Frost snorted and asked, "Wits? Weren't you the one who pleaded that I go help your brother, especially when you freaked out that he was out there to face a Taurus?"

Amy ended up throwing a handful of nuts at Frost, earning his scorn again in return.

Giving her own scorned look back, Amy turned to Nathan, eyes now brightening at the thought of her next question.

"You still didn't talk about the reward! For taking down a Taurus, the reward should have been pretty big, compared to the other extermination jobs you did before, right?"

Not knowing how else to reply to this comment, Nathan hesitantly replied, "Uh, yeah sis. There was a prize, but….I already used it. And it wasn't lien."

Amy's excited expression disappeared. In its place, slow anger appeared on her facial features as she asked, "Then what was the price, Nathan?"

After a few moments of pause, Nathan reluctantly said, "Um, a good seat at today's event, featuring Lady Weiss' appearance. Um, and I might have…not…made it…in time."

Instead of hearing her yell at him like he expected, Nathan saw that Amy formed a look of disappointment on her face.

Breathing out a deep sigh while running a hand through her hair, Amy angrily said, "Look, I respect your wishes to be an Assistant Contractor. I don't even mind that you go out there and fight against something bad, like a Taurus; you should know because Frost even said that I was scared for you. But you did all of this just to see her again?! Please tell me that doesn't sound wrong to you, does it?"

Amy's comment made Nathan feel selfish at this point. He always knew that his safety was his sister's prime concern. That same concern almost made him lose his chance to become an Assistant Contractor after he told her his desire of becoming one back when he was about to take the exam.

However, Nathan doesn't feel regret from his actions today. That's why Nathan's next words were, "Yes, that does sound wrong. But I don't regret it, because the real reward came from protecting both her and the people today."

Amy scoffed as she replied, "I understand if you did it to stop the Grimm from harassing the folks who live near the mountain. But for the heiress, well, I haven't seen her take the time to dirty her pampered feet anywhere beyond the Boundary, so how can you even consider doing anything for the sake of a prim and proper brat like her?"

Nathan, angered by such a rude remark, said in a rising voice, "That's not fair, sis. Weiss is better than that, but she has her own circumstances to be concerned about, so don't say something like that about her!"

As Nathan and Amy both argued, Frost quietly sat and ate his nuts, while muttering the words, "I told you that you would regret it."

The argument between the two siblings stopped when the phone rang in the living room. Looking at where the phone was, then at Nathan, Amy moved as she said, "This isn't over yet."

Perking his ears towards the living room, Nathan heard his sister pick up the phone and say, "Hello? Yes, this is the Osmond household."

As the phone conversation went on, Nathan heard his sister continue talking and even gasp from time to time. After a few minutes passed, he finally heard her hang up the phone and come back to the dining room through the door.

With face full of shock, Amy slowly came in and said, "I-I can't believe it. I don't know what you did, but someone from the Schnee Company called and said that they want you to go to Beacon Academy."

Unsure of her reaction to this, Nathan waited in suspense while he braced himself for the worst. Suddenly, Amy widely smiled and exclaimed, "My brother is going to Beacon! My own brother is going to the prestigious school while supported by the company I hate, yet love for doing this to you!"

Nathan stared at his sister dumbfounded for a second before he let out a silly smile, also happy to know that he's going to Beacon for an entirely different reason from what his sister was thinking of.

"_Heh, maybe today wasn't the last time I see you, Weiss. I might just end up becoming a fellow student with you for the next four years."_

Nathan suddenly felt pain as his sister came up to him and gave him a crushing hug. As Nathan tried to endure his bones grinding against his sister's arms, he gasped, "S-so I can really go? And I can k-keep going as an Assistant Contractor?"

"Yeah! They want you to go since you're an Assistant Contractor. And, and….wait, why as an Assistant Contractor? Doesn't that responsibility only lie with the company and the kingdom?"

Nathan felt cold again as he saw his sister's smile disappear with this question. Gathering his wits, Nathan replied, "Well, they might have considered it because I might have signed up to go in the same year that Weiss is going. Maybe…that's…why?"

Nathan's voice grew weaker as he saw his sister's expression darken. Soon, Nathan felt the grip around him start to turn from a hug into constriction, intensifying the pain.

Frost slowly got up, knowing that things were about to get violent, and left the room in quiet haste while carrying the bowl of nuts away.

Just as Frost left the room, Amy loudly barked, "WHAT?! YOU SIGNED UP JUST TO GO WITH THAT SPOILED PRINCESS!"

* * *

Nathan was sitting on the couch in the house's living room with a large bruise snaking around his arms, proof of where his sister's 'punishment' had taken place.

Sitting on the other side of the couch was Frost, who was nearly finished with the bowl of nuts that he was feasting on this whole time.

Amy sat on her chair located on the other side of the room with arms crossed, still angry to know that Nathan signed up to go to Beacon Academy just to be with Weiss.

Silence continued to fill the room, with the only noises coming from Frost's munching on the nuts and Amy's incoherent mumbling.

When Amy was done mumbling, she sighed and said, "I don't know what to do with you. Beacon is where future Hunters and Huntresses go to gain the skills that can help them fight against the Grimm AND know how to get a better life. It's not a place to fulfill silly childhood promises."

Nathan winced as she mentioned this, knowing just how much his sister was going to be against his only chance to go to Beacon Academy.

However, his solution came in an unexpected form when Frost said, "Well, just let the kid go and get some good training and education while he is over there. He might as well go for his own benefit."

Nathan nodded at this and said, "Yeah, this isn't entirely for Weiss. Dad was involved with the academy at some point, so I want to continue my training with any of his colleagues who might still be there."

Sighing from hearing this comment, Amy just sat there, deep in thought. After spending several more minutes of thinking, she stood up and walked over to Nathan.

Leaning in front of Nathan, she asked, "Then can you promise me that while you're there, you will do your best as a student and not as an Assistant Contractor? I don't want your duties to interfere with this rare opportunity; most people would kill you just to get a chance to go there."

In a hesitant motion, Nathan nodded his head. Ignoring the hesitation, Amy tightly hugged him with less emphasis on crushing as she said, "Oh, but I'm so proud of you. You have a chance to go somewhere that's good for you, rather than stay and get a crappy upbringing from this poor area."

Shocked at this comment, both Nathan and Frost looked at Amy, each with different reactions on their faces.

"That's not true; I've learned a lot from you and everybody else here."

"What are you talking about?! I trained this rookie better than what those pompous kids receive at their so-called 'prestigious' schools!"

Looking at Frost, Nathan said, "Um, sensei? Some of those schools are prestigious for a reason; having the chance to attend one of them would have been as good as going to Beacon."

Nathan saw a vein throb from the side of Frost's head. The next thing he knew, Frost shot out both of his arms and put Nathan's head in a head-lock with one arm while using the fist on his other arm to rapidly scratch against Nathan's head.

As Nathan felt his head burn from the noogie, Frost smiled at the sight while saying, "Don't talk back to me, rookie, otherwise I'll have to discipline you again, you hear?!"

Nathan was shouting inaudible words as Frost continued to give his punishment.

Amy started to move to the kitchen to get some snacks, smiling from both the news and the enjoyable sight of the two warriors spending time together. Right as she left, Nathan started screaming, "UNCLE! UNCLE! I GIVE!"

Frost let Nathan go right after he said those words and stood up. Picking himself up from the ground, he saw his sensei extend a helping hand to him.

Taking the hand, Nathan felt himself pulled up. Before he could move away, he felt Frost give him a pat on the shoulder as he said, "Nice work, kid. I'm just as happy to hear that you got a good opportunity ahead of you. If you do well and come back stronger, you should be ready for a hunt with me someday."

Excitement filled Nathan as he exclaimed, "Really?! Does that mean that I'll be strong as you by then?"

Right after Nathan said that, Frost brought his hand up and flicked his fingers against Nathan's head. Nathan winced as he felt the fingers hit the sore spot from the noogie.

"Don't get cocky, rookie. You'll be strong enough, but not strong enough to beat me. You still have decades before you can take me down, understand?"

Nodding his head, Nathan gave a cheerful smile as he replied, "Yes, I understand sensei. Until then, please continue to guide me as you have always done."

Frost felt a silly grin start to come up, so he quickly looked away, trying to hide it from his pupil.

Before Nathan could even take note of this unusual behavior, Amy came walking in while carrying a plate of watermelons and shouting, "Who wants watermelons?!"

Using this chance to get away from the awkward situation, Frost pushed Nathan to the side as he exclaimed, "You snooze you lose, brat; more for me."

While watching his sensei fill his mouth with watermelons from a displeased Amy, Nathan sighed at the thought of how he'll be able to attend Beacon Academy soon.

"_I want to promise sis that I'm going for my own benefit. But even if I'm going there as a student…"_

Nathan turned around and looked out the window. Outside far away, small lights dotted the sky from the city still active at this time of the night.

"_I'll finally meet with you face-to-face, Weiss. And this time, I'll keep that promise, one way or another."_

Sebastian gave a big sigh as he finally reached his room. Releasing himself from the stress of his recent work, he approached a laptop sitting at the middle of a large desk.

Turning on the laptop, Sebastian typed in a couple of keys and waited for something to happen. In a couple of seconds, a monitor came up and showed a dark image that covered where a face should have been visible.

In an unidentifiable voice, the image asked, "So, has she chosen someone?"

Nodding his head, Sebastian replied, "Yes, but it's not someone we can use. It's Regal's son."

The image released what sounded like a low grumble. After a moment of pause, it responded, "Hmm, that does complicate things, but if it's his son, then we can put that to our advantage. Is he still using his father's ARMR, by any chance?"

Sebastian nodded his head, now silenced by the thought of the one reason why the ARMR was worth asking about.

Feeling uncomfortable from the silence, the image said, "Are you still with me Sebastian? This may be difficult for you, I'm sure, but things will work out. And by the time this is all over, your whole society will be ready to become perfect."

Nodding his head, Sebastian let out a strange, deadpanned voice as he said, "Yes, all for the sake of this institution and our leaders. All for the sake of Lady Weiss and her future."

* * *

A/N:

Well, here's the next chapter. And is it cheesy as the moon? Not as much, but I might have put in a bit more gush than intended. And is Nathan a stalker? Well, no. There's some history there that I will try to explain in a future time and maybe project.

If there is anybody wondering why I'm not introducing my characters according to the order of the Team's acronym, that's because the characters are being introduced in chronological order. It may not seem like it, and I'm sorry if I haven't made this info obvious.

There will be no definitions for this chapter. That's because I have left the ambiguous words, like Boundary and ARMR, alone since they will need a different setting for discussion. So look out for that in future chapters.

So for those who are keeping up with this story, I appreciate your reading it and I hope you keep enjoying it. And as always, reviews and PM's can always help me improve or find the motivation to make this story better.

**Next time: Yin, The Silent Soldier **


	5. Yin, The Silent Soldier

Chapter 5: Yin, The Silent Soldier

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content.)

* * *

_**Even when words become a burden for the broken,**_

_**Their hearts hold onto the wishes through the results of their actions**_

"Major Lieutenant Kaminski, this is Command. Please verify the status of your progress, over."

A woman with shoulder-length violet hair picked up the receiver from the jeep's radio. As the jeep continued to ride over a rocky terrain under the early evening sun, the woman looked out her open window to check the jeep's surroundings before talking into the receiver.

"This is Major Lieutenant Kaminski, I read you Command. We are almost to our objective, so please maintain radio silence for a while. We do not want to attract any unwanted attention from other interested parties."

"Roger that, report back quickly when you are done; we wouldn't want you to miss out on your date, Major Lieutenant."

Kaminski didn't take that last respond from the female voice well, as evidenced by when she slammed the receiver back onto the radio.

Looking over to the driver's side, Kaminski saw that the driver remained as stoic as ever and focused on driving the jeep to its destination. The driver's standard ballistic gear, made up of dark green body armor and black armored pants, seemed to blend in with the expression that created the perfect image of a soldier on duty.

The wind blew against his face from the opening of his window, making his slick blond hair flow more towards the back of his head. Looking back at Kaminski with his red eyes and tan face, he let out a grunt. In response, Kaminski said, "It's nothing, just focus on driving so we can get this mission over with."

Nodding his head, the driver looked at the road again and continued to drive in silence. In the meantime, Kaminski took out a cigarette from her coat and lit it, letting out smoke that quickly disappeared with the moving air.

Feeling uncomfortable from the silence, Kaminski looked at the driver and said, "Yin, radio contact won't be expected for a while, so there's no need to be formal. Is there something on your mind that you want to talk about?"

Yin didn't say anything. Instead, he raised one hand in the air and started to make cryptic gestures with it. Nodding at the gestures, Kaminski frowned and said, "Is that it? Well, I can smoke whenever and wherever I want, so mind your own business, soldier."

Kaminski felt even angrier with Yin's next set of gestures and yelled, "Fine, then consider this the last time we talk until the mission is over, and maybe the last time I ask you for your opinion."

Kaminski saw that Yin's raised arm slightly drooped to the side with a sad expression. Feeling sorry for the young soldier, Kaminski placed an arm on his shoulder.

In a calmer voice, Kaminski said, "Look, my health is my concern alone, not yours. So don't chastise me for something I've been doing for several years, okay?"

Yin nodded his head, yet kept the same sad look on his face. Kaminski sighed as she saw this, feeling guilty for causing it. Reluctantly, she took the cigarette from her mouth and flicked it out of the jeep while silently cursing under her breath.

When she looked at Yin again, Kaminski saw that he was now smiling at her. Satisfied with this reaction, Kaminski grinned and said, "Only for today, but don't get used to it. I still have a pack that I'm going to finish later."

Yin nodded, and then continued to drive with his stoic expression back on his face, making it seem as if the past few minutes of interaction didn't happen.

Sighing from seeing this, Kaminski looked out her side of the jeep while thinking, _"I wish you would lighten up, soldier. Life is too short for someone as young as you to be so serious about it."_

After half an hour of silence, Kaminski felt the jeep stop near the ledge of a cliff that was overlooking a large blue ocean. Seeing that they have reached their destination, Kaminski came out of the jeep with her dark purple cloak flowing behind her and had her eyes focused onto the scene before her.

On the shore of the beach to her left, a large wrecked train was laying on its side. Behind it, storage cars were still attached to it, stretching down most of the shoreline as the doors spilled out the contents that were in them.

Kaminski felt awry as she kept looking around and took out two pistols from the holsters on her light brown pants and white tank top. She looked down and saw that her brown boots were now at the edge of the cliff.

Kaminski heard Yin come up behind her and take out two objects from his belt. Kaminski turned and saw Yin putting on two bronze gauntlets onto his hands. As they fit into his hands, the gauntlets started to reveal an extra armor from the sockets that stretched from the hands all the way to the edge of his shoulders. After the armor has formed, three black tubes circled around various parts of Yin's forearms, softly humming with energy.

Looking at Yin, Kaminisky said, "Let's go check it out. You go first and secure the perimeter. I'll follow up and investigate the crash site. Understood?"

Nodding his head, Yin immediately fell from the cliff and started to slide down to the clearing. When he reached the ground, he immediately dashed towards the train's left side where there was a mountain that towered over the entire beach below it.

As Kaminski made her own descent down, she couldn't shake the bad feeling that something didn't look right about this mess.

"_And we need to go straight in there just to complete a simple reconnaissance mission. Darn it, just when today can't get any worse."_

* * *

As Yin reached the edge of the mountain's bottom and surveyed the area, he also had the feeling that something didn't look right about the scenery before him.

How did the train get here? Why are there no signs of the people that occupied the train? And how could a train even get here when the nearest train tracks were located on the other side of the ocean?

"_Something isn't right. I can feel it. My instincts are acting up again, telling me to run away…. but the mission comes first."_

Despite feeling edgy, Yin continued to survey the area in a calm, hurried manner. As he kept watch, he heard Kaminski yell, "Hey, Yin! Get over here, I found something!"

Heading over to the sound of the voice, Yin saw that Kaminski came out of the front train while carrying an open laptop in one of her arms.

Setting the laptop down where Yin can see the screen, Kaminski said, "Well, here's something we can use to finish our objective, but I don't know how to turn it on. I already tried clicking on the mouse pad. I even checked to see if there are any holographic designs for me to mess with, but it's not coming on. It might even be bro-."

Yin came up to the laptop and pressed the power button. The laptop's screen came to life and started to upload its contents. Yin saw Kaminski look at him with an angry expression and say, "Shut up," before turning the screen back into her view.

Yin shrugged his shoulders and thought, "_I was just trying to help."_

Knowing that his commanding officer won't reply to his thoughts, Yin waited as she scanned the laptop's screen. He heard her click the mouse pad a bunch of times as she went through most of what the laptop had to offer her. Clicking on something else, Kaminski's eyes came up in shock at the sight of whatever came up on the screen.

When Yin came up to see what was on the laptop, he couldn't help but form the same shocked expression. The screen showed the picture of the Schnee Dust Company logo. Next to it, a list of names came up, most identifying the various weapons that were supposed to be in these storage cars.

"_The Schnee Family? Sure, they've had suspicious partners in the past, but to ask for this many weapons seems a bit too much for a company that already has a good amount of power."_

Looking at the numbers next to those items, Yin realized that there should have been more items with the train, but the ones scattered on the beach didn't match the numbers.

"Yin, go check out Car #1 and #2 for me. Tell me if you see these weapons inside them. And if you see them, give me a count of the number you see."

After Yin took note of the names that Kaminski mentioned, he hurriedly ran up to each of the storage cars and checked their contents. Yin raised his head after checking the second car and shook his head at Kaminski.

Yin saw Kaminski silently curse under her breath. Closing the laptop and putting it under her arm, she started to head to the direction of the jeep as she yelled, "A good number of those items are missing. We need to head back to the jeep and notify Command! We're under atta-."

Up on the cliff, the jeep exploded, making its leftover bits rain onto the beach below. Yin and Kaminski shielded their eyes from the explosion as several shapes started to form on the sand and head towards their way.

* * *

Just as the explosion died down, Yin saw the various bulges shift through the beach's sand around them. The shapes came up from the sand, revealing their dark grey, humanoid figures. Several of the shapes close to Yin and Kaminski moved to encircle the two, surrounding them from any escape.

Yin saw that these figures had red, glowing lines trailing from different parts of their body to their square-shaped visor. Their arms turned into chainsaws that spun with a deadly buzz, with pointed edges aimed at ready. Their legs also transformed, turning from a pair of feet into wheels that tightly gripped into the sand below them.

Kaminski placed her pistols back into her holsters and placed her hands inside her cloak. As she took out her hands, they were wearing two dark-purple gloves with silver fingertips on them. In the middle of each glove, there was an attached silver disc that had the insignia of a lightning bolt on them.

"M-Vulcans? Huh, it looks like regular weaponry isn't going to work on them."

One of the M-Vulcans raised one arm, which transformed into a cannon, and aimed it at Kaminski with its other arm supporting it. In a mechanical voice, it said, "**Burnian detected. Be eradicated or die**."

Unfazed by the threat, Kaminski looked at Yin with an evil smile and angrily said, "Not very polite, is it? It literally gave us no chance to surrender. Yin, would you mind showing this thing how we would politely respond to that?"

Right as she finished her sentence, Yin immediately raised one of his gauntlets glowing in a purple light out in front of him and pulled it back next to his head. The M-Vulcan suddenly flew into the air and headed straight into Yin's fist, severing its head from the rest of its body upon impact.

The other M-Vulcans had their cannons formed, ready to attack. However, just as they raised their arms, several glimmers of light came down from the sky and sliced through their weapons.

Kaminski raised her gloved hand and mischievously said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you need those to attack us?" At the end of the glove's fingertips came out sharp wires that glistened under the sun.

The M-Vulcans responded to Kaminski's question by opening their chest plates, revealing another cannon inside. The wheels on their feet started to move, propelling the robots backwards with cannons gathering energy to fire.

Yin darted to one of the robots while Kaminski ran in the other direction. When the robots fired at both soldiers, Yin and Kaminski dodged as they each took out their respective targets. As both fists and claws ripped and shredded through metal, scattered remains started to litter the floor.

One of the M-Vulcans near Yin tried to slam its chainsaw into his head, but Yin grabbed the dangerous limb and used his other hand to grab the head. With his gauntlet whirring loudly, Yin unleashed an electric shock that fried the robot, making it go limp in his hand.

Yin glanced to the side and saw more M-Vulcans appear from the sand and on top of the nearby storage cars. As he threw the robot in his hand away, Kaminski came up behind him and said, "You take the lead while I follow up. We need to clean this up and let Command know what's happening out here."

Nodding to the comment, Yin dashed forward as his gauntlets' black lines started to spin, screeching in a loud whir. The M-Vulcans fired at the approaching soldier, but saw that their shots merely bounced off of Yin's body. As Yin kept running, his body started to crackle with electricity.

Using the force of his charged body, Yin slammed through four of the front M-Vulcans and jumped up towards the storage cars behind them. The other M-Vulcans tried to fire at Yin, but Kaminski sliced all of them with her extended wires before following Yin up into the air.

As Yin was ascending higher into the air, the M-Vulcans on one storage car opened fire with cannons blazing. That didn't stop him as he descended onto the group of M-Vulcans and slammed his fists into the ground below them, unleashing a discharge of electricity that fried the M-Vulcans near him.

The M-Vulcans further back charged at Yin with chainsaws sprouting from each of their arms. Before they could reach him, Kaminski appeared in the air behind Yin and flung her wires in two wide arcs past above Yin's head, slicing through the incoming robots.

Using this small opening, Yin clenched one of his fists as the gauntlet on it started to make a strange mechanical noise. The gauntlet suddenly grew bigger with its exterior expanding, transforming Yin's entire arm into something like a large battering ram.

With a loud yell, Yin punched forward and obliterated all of the charging M-Vulcans. As Yin pulled back his enlarged arm, he looked ahead and saw that his attack left only traces of the bodies behind.

"Soldier, eyes in front of you!"

Yin looked up and saw a ball of energy heading towards his way. Yin tried to form another charge around his body, but his gauntlets started to let out a strange sound as the black lines abruptly stopped rotating.

Lacking the time to create a proper defense, Yin shielded his body with his gauntlets, bracing for the upcoming attack.

Kaminski landed in front of Yin and threw her cloak in front of her. The cloak suddenly stretched out into a wall and shielded the two people behind it from the energy blast.

Kaminski created a peephole through the cape and saw two larger robots covered in dark green armor and blue lines headed towards her way. With cannons located on the shoulders, arms, and even on top of their heads, the robots continued to fire while riding on the top of their legs' four wheels.

Looking behind back at Yin, Kaminski saw that he kept trying to re-activate his gauntlets, which started and choked with every attempt given so far.

Kaminski silently cursed as she looked back in front of her to see several more M-Vulcans appear over the edge of the storage cars. When the robots added their own fire onto her protection, Kaminski saw that the cloak in front of her started to quiver from its weakening defense.

"A couple of M-Vulcans added with the arrival of BM-Grads, are you ready to continue?"

Looking up at Kaminski, Yin nodded as his gauntlets now whirred with renewed energy. Briefly smiling at Yin, Kaminski grabbed the cloak in front of her and brought it back around her body, unveiling the chaos approaching them.

At the same moment, Kaminski dashed forward and spun in a circle as she unleashed all of her wires from both hands. Guided by Kaminski's dexterous fingers, every line of wire wrapped around each of the M-Vulcans' heads. Kaminski then pulled both arms across her chest, which made the wires pull back and slice the heads from the bodies.

The approaching BM-Grads kept moving, unfazed by the defeat of their allies. Kaminski jumped up into the air, revealing behind her Yin, who had both of his arms placed firmly behind him with open hands.

Both of Yin's arms let out a strange mechanical sound, then enlarge into the same size that Yin had created before with his one arm. Yin let out a mighty yell as he started to run towards the BM-Grads up ahead of him as his body once started to crackle with electricity.

The BM-Grads opened fire at Yin with all of their cannons. Yin kept running forward as his charged body blocked all of the shots.

While Yin took on the BM-Grads' barrage, Kaminski threw a part of her cloak from the air towards the robots. The cloak shifted as it moved through the air and separated into several spikes that pierced through the BM-Grads, holding their cannons and bodies in place.

Yin was free to continue his charge undeterred. As he kept running, the spiked cloak retracted back to Kaminski as she landed on one of the back storage carts behind Yin. When Yin was close to the BM-Grads, he thrust both of his arms at the large robots. Both robots tried to move, but the large fists reached them first and sent them flying with a crash.

Yin looked up as to see the bodies explode from the damage. As his arms shrunk back to their normal size, Yin looked around, only to find that the only thing moving was Kaminski, who was walking towards his position.

When Kaminski was close enough, she patted Yin's shoulder and said, "Nice job, couldn't have had a better clean-up myself. But we're going to have those gauntlets of yours fixed up; Gear's upgrades seem to be messing up your charge every time you use it."

Kaminski's cloak suddenly let out what sounded like a whimper, then stretched wide out and revealed its underside that was filled with burns from when it blocked the energy blasts.

Scratching the cloak, Kaminski said, "Aww, I hope you weren't hurt too bad, Virtue. Don't worry, I won't need you again, so you can just rest for a while."

Kaminski heard a growl and looked back at Yin. Yin made several hand gestures that made Kaminski narrow her eyes and say, "Alright, alright, just hang on a minute. We'll find a way to contact Command, so don't worry too much about it."

Kaminski and Yin ran back up the cliff where the jeep was at, not noticing a large shadow hanging from the side of the mountain. Slowly but surely, it followed them as it climbed down, ready to exterminate the targets with extreme force.

* * *

At the top of the cliff where the jeep used to be at, Yin kept watch over his surroundings while Kaminski was trying to use the jeep's miraculously intact radio to contact Command.

Yin saw that Kaminski tried to get a signal with the radio, but every attempt so far has resulted with only static being spat from the end of the receiver.

"_Threat has been neutralized, but this whole situation still feels wrong. I just hope we can make a connection before any part of Burn is attacked by these weapons."_

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Kaminski sat down, making Yin come over to see what was wrong.

Kaminski looked at Yin and said, "Well, I can't hail Command since something went wrong with the signal. So not only do we have to go back by foot, but we need to run if we're ever going to make it in time."

"_Hmm, there might not be a need for that."_

Yin looked at Kaminski with no words of reply. Instead, Yin raised his arms and slowly cupped both of his hands and placed them together. Soon, a low hum started to form from the gauntlets.

As the humming resumed, the radio suddenly came alive with numerous voices erupting from the radio. Looking at Yin in astonishment, Kaminski said, "Wow, I guess Gear did add something right, although that's not really saying much for a peculiar kid like him."

Yin grunted and pointed his head towards the radio. Kaminski said, "All right, just wait a minute," and picked up the radio's receiver. Turning the radio to the right channel, Kaminski said, "Hello, this is Major Lieutenant Kaminski. Command, are you there?"

The radio crackled for a bit, then a voice came out of it saying, "Major Lieutenant?! You finally decided to call back. We tried to contact you, but you wouldn't pick up."

Scratching her head, Kaminski replied, "Yes, we ran into some trouble. But that's not the point; we found a transport train full of autonomous weapons inside. You need to send a team with a chopper and survey the-."

"Actually Major Lieutenant, we tried to contact you earlier to tell you about that. A large group of those weapons tried to break into the capital from the mountain overpass, but our main batteries took care of them; you'll need to watch for the craters near the front gate when you come back."

Now angry at the comment, Kaminiski said, "I know that the city is safe, but that's not the concern! What about the other areas?! Are they safe?!"

The voice didn't immediately respond andfter a couple of seconds, it came back while saying, "Yes, although a small enemy force has been spotted heading to a village located in the east. However, your orders are to return and report in. A squad has been sent to deal with the threat, so there is no need to be concerned about this any longer."

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Kaminski decided to let it go and said, "Roger that, send in that chopper and we'll be back to give that report."

As Kaminski turned off the radio, she turned to look at Yin, who turned off his gauntlets while giving her a concerned look.

"What, are you still concerned? You heard Command, there is a small squad heading over there, so the village will get some help soon."

"_But if any of the citizens are in trouble, then it's our job to defend them from the threats that we can handle."_

Although this was only a thought, Yin gave Kaminski the same look while shaking his head. Understanding the gesture, Kaminski sighed and said, "Yeah, we can definitely get there faster since we're closer, huh?"

Yin nodded his head at the question. Kaminski stood up and said, "Well, even if we are closer, we still need to get a ride, otherwise we'll just arrive at the village too late."

Right after Kaminski finished her sentence, Yin saw a large mass of red and black metal land in front of him and Kaminski with a loud crash. Bearing its barrels at the two soldiers, the spider droid rose up with its four legs and started to walk forward, ready to fight.

Yin looked at the droid, and then at Kaminski, who was now letting a wicked grin form on her red lips. Taking out both of her wire gloves, she said, "Well, our ride is here. Are you ready to drive?"

* * *

In a small village located over the mountain from where Yin and Kaminski was at, small houses were burning as several M-Vulcans and BM-Grads were marching down the grassy plains.

Near the edge of a field of grass, a small barricade stood where several soldiers wearing silver armor behind it had guns at ready. As they took aim, one of the soldiers shouted, "Here they come! Get ready!"

Taking aim through his gun, the same soldier shouted out, "Don't let them get past this point while the miners get all the people and minerals out! Our bullets may not last, but we make our stand here until they're done!"

Soon, all of the soldiers started to see the robots approach their position with glowing cannons. As they approached, all of the soldiers raised their weapons and took aim, with fingers shaking at the triggers.

"Hold, no firing until you see the lines of their eyes!"

When the robots reached the part of the path that led straight to the barricade, their feet transformed into wheels and charged. The soldiers still maintained their aim, even as the robots were now closing in on them at a faster pace.

Suddenly, a trumpet sounded from afar in a different direction followed by loud rhythmic thumps. The soldiers and even the robots turned to look at where the loud noises were coming from.

In the distance, a spider droid came into view, jumping towards the direction of the village. As it got closer, the soldiers and robots saw a woman sitting on top of the droid's head. Using wires that came out of her gloves, the woman had hogtied most of the droid's cannons together.

At the part where a head should have been at, a young man in ballistic armor was found inside a hole with both arms sticking deep inside the circuitry that made up the inside.

While the soldiers stood there shocked by the sight, the robots didn't hesitate and resumed their charge while shooting their cannons at the upcoming spider droid.

However, the moving spider droid dodged most of the shots as it got closer. Making a jump high into the air, the spider droid landed right in the middle of the path, separating the robots from making any more progress to their original destination.

* * *

Kaminski stood up and coughed as clouds of dust rolled in the air from the crash.

"Darn it, it's hard to break machines like that in nowadays!"

Looking down into the hole below her, Kaminski saw Yin coming out as he pulled his arms out from the spider droid's circuits.

"The next time we do this after I get Gear to fix my gloves, I'm driving. And yes, I know it was tough driving the thing with your gauntlets, but you could have done something about the landing."

As Yin came out of the hole after finishing his gestures, Kaminski followed from the top of the spider droid and reeled her wires back into her gloves. Landing next to Yin, Kaminski said, "And was that Reveille? That had to be the most old-fashioned way of coming to the rescue. Please try not to do something lame like that again."

While Yin responded with several hand gestures, he thought, "_There is never pleasing the Major whenever I'm driving something."_

Yin put down his hands as he finished his last gesture and turned around with Kaminski to face the horde of autonomous weapons before them. The robots stood there, as if contemplating on what to do next.

One of the M-Vulcans looked at Yin's direction and said, "**Alert: new Burnian targets detected. Shifting parameters…..Acknowledged, exterminate Bur**-."

The M-Vulcan never finished as Kaminski whipped one of her wires at it, slicing it across its body. As the robot fell to the ground in two pieces, Kaminski glared at the group and said, "The next rude asshole gets cut into five times more pieces than that."

Uncaring about the threat, the rest of the M-Vulcans and BM-Grads charged and fired their weapons at Kaminski. Just before the rounds reached her, a yellow field of electrical energy appeared and absorbed all of the shots.

Yin stood there with his fists slammed together while the gauntlets whirred again with electric energy. When he threw both of his arms out, the field extended forward. The field ran through the incoming robots and shocked them, making them paralyzed on the spot.

Yin ran from his spot and he passed the paralyzed weapons, he let his fists fly and crash them into the bodies, breaking them into pieces. Yin kept running as his body started to gather electrical energy and cover his body, allowing him to tackle through an incoming group. When Yin reached the center of the group, he let out a shout as purple energy came out, making the robots around him fly high into the air.

Kaminski came up behind him and shouted, "Magnetize at full power!" and released all of her wires into the air. Yin raised his arms into the air crossed together, as the gauntlets hummed in a purple light. Soon, the wires that Kaminski threw started to spread out and twirl in a circle under where the robots were falling at. As Kaminski maintained control over each wire with each of her fingers, Yin's body continued to hum with the purple energy, now intensifying in a brighter light.

Soon, the wires started to spin faster, creating a vortex of blades that sliced each and every one of the robots that fell through it. Bits and pieces of the remaining parts rained down, covering the ground below with their pieces.

When every robot was sliced to oblivion, Kaminski pulled her wires back into her gloves while Yin brought down his arms.

Kaminski looked around and saw that every threat has been eliminated. As she smiled and looked at the scenery, she saw a bright light manifesting in the distance.

Realizing the threat too late, Kaminski turned and tried to jump in front of Yin with her cloak ready to come out in front of her. However, Yin beat her to it and pushed her far away as he activated his electrical field again with both of his enlarged arms out and covering his front.

As Yin finished raising his defenses, the bright light was fired and engulfed Yin and the surrounding area in a large explosion.

* * *

A new spider droid saw that its attack made contact with its targets. Still in its cannon mode, the spider droid reformed back to its walking form and marched towards the wreckage to verify that its targets have been eliminated.

As it got closer, it saw Kaminski lying on the ground nearby a hole created from the huge laser blast. When its readings identified that the woman was still alive, the spider droid walked up to her prone form.

Kaminski rolled over and tried to make sense of what was going on through her distortion. When her sight became clear again, she saw the incoming spider droid walk straight towards her.

Kaminski tried to get up, but the spider droid already raised one of its legs and slammed it hard into Kaminski's body. Feeling her body break from the impact, Kaminski tried to prevent herself from crying out as blood started to leak from her mouth.

The spider droid mercilessly aimed one of its cannons at Kaminski. As the cannon started to charge, a mechanical voice from the robot said, "**Burnian alive, no survivors permitted**."

Before the cannon reached full charge, the spider droid's senses started to blare a warning. Looking at where the warning was detected, it saw something rise from the smoking hole.

At the middle of the hole stood Yin, who was wearing only his partially burned pants and had some of his hair and skin burned off. Looking closer at Yin's body, one could see that he was also wearing a thin coat of various steel linings crisscrossing from one to another part of his body.

As Yin stood there, he slowly raised his burned head and looked at the spider droid with white eyes lacking pupils. Yin slowly started to walk up the crater as his gauntlets started to crackle in electrical energy.

Walking up the crater, Yin shot out one of his arms forward and released a large ball of lightning at the spider droid. The spider droid was thrown back by the attack, forcing its leg to get off of Kaminski.

As Kaminski looked up after being relieved of the robot's weight, she saw Yin walk right past her with his skin and hair fully regrown back. His angry gaze stayed on the spider droid as he kept walking while his skin started to grow darker with each step.

The spider droid got itself back up and immediately shot all of its cannons at Yin. All of the blasts hit Yin dead on, yet he kept walking through the barrage while smoking, but unscathed by the barrage. When the spider droid saw that its attacks were ineffective, it lowered its body and charged, intending on using its massive body as a battering ram to slam into Yin.

Yin only watched the approaching spider droid and stood there, raising his blackened arms in front of him. When the droid slammed into Yin, it found that after pushing Yin back several meters, it couldn't move any further as Yin just stood there, holding both himself and the spider droid in place.

Letting out a ferocious roar, Yin pushed the spider droid back a few feet away. As the spider droid tried to stop its sudden movement, Yin dashed forward and shot out one of his arms, driving it right into the spider droid's mid-section. Yin followed his strike with a furry of fists, finally finishing with an uppercut that sent the spider droid flying into the air.

The spider droid flew a few feet back and landed, collapsing as the damage to its mid-section prevented it from standing up properly. Starting to retreat a few steps back, it saw that Yin's entire body was now black, with yellow lines formed all over his body.

"**Confirmed. Skin density increase, damage regeneration, and unnatural dark exterior. New target: eradicate Berserker with extreme prejudice."**

In one fast motion, the spider droid managed to stand up straight and form its large cannon again, letting out large fumes of fire as it gathered energy. Yin stopped when he saw this and kept staring as the spider droid kept charging, trying to gather the maximum amount of energy that it could gather.

Kaminski saw this and yelled out, "Yin! Don't take it head on, get out of there!"

Yin turned to look at Kaminski, who had her bloody face looking at him in worry. He then turned around and saw that the village they came to help was in the direct line of the spider droid's fire. Knowing what will happen if he moved, Yin decided that only one course of action was available.

Turning to face the spider droid again, Yin raised both of his arms in front of him and clasped them together. Soon, his gauntlets started to hum with purple and electric energy gathering to his clasped hands from the gauntlets.

Seeing the energy gather in Yin's hands, the spider droid continued to charge its cannon, which started to spark and groan from the immense amount of gathered energy. Even as it continued to charge beyond its limits, Yin's gauntlets only responded by gathering more energy into Yin's sparking hands.

Kaminski tried to get up, but her sight distortion and broken ribs prevented her from doing so. When she realized she couldn't get up in time to stop Yin, all she did was yell, "STOP IT! DON'T SHOOT THE RAILGU-!"

Right as she said it, the spider droid's cannon unleashed a massive beam of blue energy, destroying the barrel of its cannon in the process. As the beam flew and left a blazing trail behind it, Yin let out a feral roar as his gauntlets, with black lines twirling at an insane speed, let out a loud click. Yin's body flew back as a yellow wave of energy erupted from his hands, flying to meet the spider droid's attack.

As the spider droid's attack met Yin's, the large beam of blue energy became engulfed by the size and force of Yin's own blast. The spider droid stood there, as if accepting its doom while the yellow beam of energy approached its position.

"**Confirmed. Sending report, Berserker found. Berserker fou-."**

When the yellow beam of energy reached the spider droid, it engulfed its entire body, making it disappear in a flash of light. Continuing on beyond its target, the wave kept going until it shot all the way into the sky above.

Soon, the light from the wave of energy died down, leaving behind the smoldering remains of the spider droid on the scorched ground beneath it. Over on the other side of the scorched plains, Yin laid there unconscious while his skin started to lighten back to its original tan color and his arms smoked from his broken gauntlets.

Kaminski was up at this point and limping towards Yin. While she was heading over there, she yelled, "Yin?! Yin!"

As she got on her knees to get a closer look at his body, she frantically yelled, "Yin?! Yin?! Speak to-, I mean, do something! Anything!"

When Yin didn't respond to that, Kaminski put her head down to listen to his breathing. Finding no breaths from his mouth, she started to perform CPR, hoping to resuscitate him before it was too late.

Kaminski desperately compressed the chest in separate intervals while checking for breathing over and over again. When the third time didn't work, she started to hit harder as tears started to come down her face.

"Darn it, get up! Get up, soldier! You're better than this; I trained you to be better than this! Wake up, I can't lose another soldier again. Not when enough of you are gone as it is!"

By the time Kaminski finished her seventh attempt, she saw that Yin was still unmoving, not even letting out a single breath. Unable to bear the sight, Kaminski collapsed onto the ground and buried her face into her hands as more tears started to leak from her eyes.

As Kaminski mourned, one of Yin's broken gauntlets started to let out a few bolts of electricity. Several of those bolts went down Yin's entire arm and towards his heart. When the bolts reached his heart, it shocked it several times until the heart started to beat again.

Yin shot up and gasped for a large breath of air, then coughed as he felt his heart start to run normally again. Confused by the sight of the burned plains, Yin turned to see Kaminski staring at him in shock with a tear-stricken face.

"_Wh-what happened? Wait, am I only wearing my pants? And why is the Lieutenant Commander crying?"_

Before Yin could ponder more about the situation, he felt Kaminski punch him straight across the jaw. Surprised by the sudden attack, Yin groaned in pain as he felt a part of his jaw dislocate.

"_And now I'm getting punched. That might be as helpful as getting another blackout for the next couple of minutes."_

Yin suddenly felt warm arms encircle his body. Looking back at Kaminski, he found her hugging him, making Yin instantly forget about the pain in his jaw. As she pulled back from the hug, he saw that she was frowning at him while giving him a soft, yet hardened gaze.

"Don't you ever do something stupid like that ever again, you hear me? That is an order, and if you disobey, I'll find a way to haunt your soul before it is ever put to rest."

After nodding his head, Yin saw something fly towards them from the corner of his eyes. Looking up, he saw a black helicopter descend to their position. When it landed, several people wearing a ballistic armor similar to Yin's came out and headed towards the village while two other people in gray uniforms headed to where Yin and Kaminski was at.

When one of them reached Kaminski, she swiped his hand away and said, "No, he comes first. I'll take any treatment when you're done patching him up."

Nodding to this command, both medics picked up each of Yin's arms over their shoulders and carried him to the helicopter while Kaminski limped right behind them. When everybody got on board, the helicopter lifted off and started to head towards the mountains.

While the medics looked over his body, Yin looked down and saw that the soldiers from the helicopter met up with the other soldiers who were at the barricade that was protecting the village.

"_Well, the village is still in one piece. I guess now…this is..mission…complete."_

Content to see that everything is alright, Yin felt his consciousness slip as the medics continued to patch up his now relaxed body.

Kaminski saw this and let out a small smile of her own, while glad to see that both of them made it out alive, despite unforeseen circumstances. Getting comfortable in her seat, Kaminski started to close her eyes to rest her worn body as well.

"Um, Major Lieutenant? I'm sorry to bother you, but there is an urgent call coming from Command. It's for you."

Grumbling under her breath, Kaminski took the holo-phone from the pilot's hand. Mustering all of the patience she had with her exhausted arms, she put the phone in front of her and said, "Hello? This is Major Lieutenant Kaminski, Command. We're on our way back, so if you can wait, I would prefer to give you a full report after we get there."

"Why Natasha, does every call from Command have to be about business? You should be more relaxed, now that your mission is over."

Recognizing the masculine arrogant voice on the other side, Kaminski felt almost all of her patience disappear as she did her best from making a rude remark over the phone in front of everybody.

"Natasha, it's rude to keep the King of Burn waiting. I'm also willing to forgive you for being late for our date, so if you hurry back, I can arrange us to have dinner at my-."

At this point, Kaminski felt the remains of her patience slipping. While holding her tongue in the best she can, Kaminski crushed the phone before the King could continue. Tossing the remains out of the helicopter, Kaminski looked back at the pilot, who was staring at her in shock.

"Um, Major Lieutenant? That was my personal phone. I was going to call my daughter right after you finished."

Feeling bad for her rude action, Kaminski reached into her pocket and took out some lien chips. Handing them to the pilot, she said, "Here, this should be enough to buy another phone and maybe enough to get your daughter something nice."

Kaminski took out another lien chip and moved closer to the pilot. As she handed the chip into his hand, she whispered, "And here's another for a slow ride back home with radio silence. And as slow as possible; I'll take care of any heat that comes from Command for this, okay?"

Happily taking the lien from Kaminski, the pilot started to slow down the helicopter and fly it towards the long route back home.

Convinced that she bought herself and Yin at least one hour of rest, Kaminski kept her watch over Yin's sleeping form as the medics started to patch up her wounds as well.

* * *

As the helicopter started to fly over the mountains, a person wearing a black bowler hat and white suit came up a grassy hill and watched the leftovers of the recent battle.

Shaking his head at the scene, he lit a cigar and put it in his mouth just as another figure came up and stood beside him.

The figure had violet spiky hair and was wearing a black and white face mask while the rest of his body was covered in a large brown cloak. As his cloak flew to the side from an incoming wind, he could be seen wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a large belt holding what appears to be two machine guns.

Looking at the scene in front of him, the masked figure asked, "So Mr. Torchwick, will this be the final act for today's performance or do you wish for me to enact an encore and recover the objects which you desire?"

Roman took another drag from his cigar while calmly saying, "No, it's alright. Your service has been worth every cent. It was clever of you to use one of the Schnee Company trains and have it somehow drift over to Burn's shores. But even after all of that, it seems stealing their Bond proved to be too much after all."

Dropping the cigar onto the ground below him, Roman found an evil smile creep up on his face.

"Despite the odds, we did achieve our main objective. And even better, we seemed to have found their dirty little secret. Now all that's left is to sit back and watch the fireworks go off."

The masked figure turned around and started to walk away. As he walked away, he said, "Well, if you say so Mr. Torchwick. If we're done here, we should be heading back before your other accomplice shows how hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn again."

Chuckling at the thought of the figure's imagery of his 'accomplice's' behavior, Roman followed behind him and said, "I believe that fury is aimed more at you, Clockwork. On the other hand, I think I'll take my time and watch you almost get burned into cinders again."

The figure known as Clockwork turned to look at Roman with the mask's emotionless eyes as if he was glaring at him. In a flash of blue light, Roman saw the figure disappear, leaving behind a trail of footsteps that went down the trail they both came from.

Shrugging his shoulders, Roman lit another cigar and headed to his ride's rendezvous point, ignoring the smoke that rose in the air behind him.

* * *

A/N

I want to note that although the intro chapters are mostly done (What?! The next chapter isn't the last?! When are we going to see Ruby and everybody else?!), I might move onto some different stories.

The main reason is because Season 1 is done, and I don't see enough materials to help keep this story true to the canon plot, which is what I'm aiming for. I'm not even sure if we need to wait until next fall to see the second half, which can be both a problem for me and the story.

Also, I plan on continuing the plot in a different story that will actually separate itself from the intro chapters and go straight into the main plot chapters.

It's still in the planning, but the main concern is because most of the chapters so far did not have a strong relation to RWBY's current plot at all. It might make it easier for readers to read the story when I get to the chapter with the main plot.

Oh right, references:

-BM-Grads and M-Vulcans: RWBY did what I thought was kind of interesting by naming the robot lackeys from the Black trailer after some of the naval weaponry. I decided to follow suit, only to crop some of the names I found and post it here. I think you can find them online, because the names elude me.

-So if you haven't noticed before, Khal's heritage from Xavier's intro is related to this nation of Burn. Burn is going to be located at an interesting place, but I'm holding onto the description for way later.

-Yin's name does have a meaning related to his character, and a big one. Whether or not it will have lots of relations to Yang's name, I'm honestly not sure because I try not to be as obvious as that.

Any reviews and PM's are always welcome, since again, they help me develop some motivation and ideas for other things.

And remember, no smoking in any wildlife areas. You can start large forest fires that way.


	6. Breaking Things Down

Chapter 6: Breaking Things Down

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content.)

A/N: Last episode of RWBY was pure awesome. I'm surprised that Monty brought back an old style that he used. Anyways, Volume 1 for Season 1 is finished and I am now waiting in frustration for the second volume to come out.

* * *

At the center of a group of mountains, there was a small city filled with buildings of various shapes and sizes, where many people were going about with their usual activities.

In this same area, there were also large, dome-shaped buildings occupied by people wearing dark green uniforms, while some wore the same ballistic armor that Yin wore on his mission a couple of days ago.

These soldiers were there to keep a lookout over the city, making sure the inhabitants were safe from any form of harm. More of these soldiers were seen guarding the north part of the city, where a large brown palace stood with its back against the large mountains.

Thus is known as the city of Ash, the capital of the small nation of Burn. Known for its military might, the small land has maintained its long history of defending itself from many invaders. However, most of its fame came from having a rare culture where many of its inhabitants were born from different backgrounds, especially those of Faunus heritage.

Although this lone nation followed a cruel culture of how only the strong survive while the weak is left to perish, the past decades have seen some kinder changes for the better. These changes have even allowed the nation to interact with other civilizations, which allowed it to grow to where it can soon become as prosperous as the world-renowned Kingdoms.

However, Burn's activities in the past years have made many people become concerned about Burn's development, even to the point where discrimination was formed against its people.

As Burn is threatened to stand alone against old and new threats, an earthquake rumbled beneath the city. All of the city's electricity went off, then on humming with more power than before.

* * *

A white room shook as the earthquake passed, shaking around all kinds of light and heavy equipment hanging from the walls and lying around the floor. At the end of the room, a black-haired lad in an oil-stained white shirt and jeans was sitting on the floor, ignoring the sudden movement. Using some kind of welding tool to tinker with some objects in his hands, the lad kept his focus, eyes unseen thanks to the black goggles that covered them from view.

Next to this lad, Yin was lying down in a machine that had an overhead scanner shooting a beam of light up and down his body. As the scanner gained data on every part of his body, the monitor on another part of the machine showed a diagram of Yin's body with a picture of another silhouette that had the words, FRAME, above it.

As the young lad, Gear, finished doing his work, he reached towards a wheelchair behind him and hoisted himself onto the chair. Turning the wheels with one hand, Gear picked up his handiwork with the other hand from the ground and turned to look at the machine's monitor.

"So Yin, according to the scanner, your apparatus is entirely intact; it didn't take much damage, unlike your body, so I don't have to make any major repairs on it anytime soon."

Gear turned to look at Yin and saw Yin's quizzical face stare at him, as if not understanding what Gear was talking about. Taking off his goggles, Gear also looked at Yin with brown eyes filled with amusement.

Knowing why Yin was confused, Gear said, "Did you forget what I meant by apparatus? It's part of the acronym, FRAME, the newest generation of the body frames, like the one you have on right now. It stands for **F**lexible **R**oaming **A**pparatus for **M**aximum **E**fficiency."

Yin shook his head and made some hand gestures while thinking, "_Nope, you're never clear because your version of technology involves making something new while using me as a guinea pig, you freaking mad scientist."_

After Gear saw the gestures, he said, "Well, I'm just saying it to keep you updated since you seem to be stuck in the pre-Civilization days, like an old grandpa. Yeesh, Reville? Ha ha ha, that really is a corny way to come to the rescue."

Yin became silent and just looked up at the ceiling, no longer wanting to communicate as Gear kept laughing. When the scan finished, Yin saw Gear place on his lap a pair of his fully-repaired gauntlets.

"There, I re-modified the gauntlets, so you shouldn't have to worry about them messing up again. But since the upgrades are still new, the gauntlets' output is going to be weaker and will need more time to charge for your other attacks. I'm sorry, but this is the best I can do for you until I figure out how to make a better design."

As Yin looked over his fixed gauntlets with one hand, he gave several hand gestures with the other hand, which made Gear frown at him.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Gear said, "Well, say, er, I mean, show what you want to show. I'm not changing it back, cause I'm one of the few guys who can calibrate it, so you'll have to just take whatever this engineer can give you."

While Yin wore one of his gauntlets and flexed it to test its movements, Gear kept looking at the machine's monitor as it outlined other parts of Yin's FRAME.

"You know, it's amazing how far the frames have come. Back in Burn's early days, it was used as a restraint to train the human body to utilize the maximum action for minimum energy consumption."

While Gear kept talking, Yin slightly twitched as he thought, "_Oh no, here comes Techno mode. I would tell him to shut up, but he has a nasty habit of looking away from me just so he could talk." _

"But later on, Burn was able to repurpose it for combat, like adding hidden weapons and DUST without the need to carry them in pockets and extra clothes. Greater features came during the previous era, when we found that making frames out of some of the minerals that we mine here can allow Aura to flow through them."

Turning around with a smile, Gear continued, "But now, thanks to Dr. Glackenhimer's added input on it, today's technological advancements on weapons have been added to our frames. The doctor is so cool; he did that and created the acronym that uses all of the letters in the words!"

As Gear watched Yin wear both gauntlets on his hands, he hesitantly said, "Oh yeah, I kind of forgot to tell you…unfortunately, you can't use the Railgun anymore."

At the last part of the news, Yin angrily turned around and made some fast hand gestures in front of Gear's face. As Gear kept watching, his gaze started to lower and focus straight at the floor.

"Well, I had to do it because both Command and mo- I mean, Major Lieutenant Kaminski ordered it. But, I can't deny that I wanted to take off that stupid feature too."

Yin's frown and glare at Gear grew deeper as Gear started to nervously mess with a wrench that he was holding in his hands. Staring straight at the floor, Gear looked back up with a concerned face.

"I heard you almost died a few days back because you used the Railgun. The huge amount of stress from handling the magnetic and electric energy is something that even your body can't handle. That's why it can cause irregularities, like cardiac arrest. It could have killed you if mom wasn't there to help you."

Despite noticing Gear's growing discomfort from mentioning their commander's title wrong, Yin didn't show it. Instead, his hand gestures started to go faster while his face showed that he was getting angrier for the removal of his greatest weapon.

When Yin reached the last hand sign of his sentence, Gear's face also started to darken as he angrily said, "I know that it was important to protect them, but you should really consider how other people would feel if you died! You dying while leaving me and mom behind isn't fair for the both of us, especially when I can't be out there to prevent that!"

Yin felt his anger slip away right after hearing this statement. After doing nothing for a minute, Yin just shook his head and got out of his seat. He walked past Gear and headed straight for the room's exit in silence.

"Did you feel like you had to almost die an honorable death rather than live to fight another day? Or is it to make up for the lives that we lost because of that stupid accident?"

Yin froze on the spot, then looked back at Gear who slowly rolled up to where Yin was at.

"I sometimes feel the same; that moment became the reason why I almost lost everything, including these legs. But it never hurts me as much because I have you and mom now, Yin."

Gear tried to reach out and grab Yin's shoulder, but Yin walked out of reach, rejecting the comforting hand. Yin made some several hand gestures before heading towards the door. As the doors parted, Yin heard Gear softly say, "Yeah, I'll see you later…brother."

Yin walked on past the doors and into a hallway. Walking through the complex and out of its main doors, Yin got onto the streets and headed towards the exit out of the city.

"_Well, every mission always means that I get to visit that place. Just 13 more missions and I don't have to be there anymore."_

* * *

Kaminski softly sighed as she stood at attention in the middle of a large red room ornate with gold and white decorations. Standing on top of the red rug that covered the floor, Kaminski can only stare at what was lying on top of the red stairs before her.

On a large throne in front of Kaminski, a man with blonde straight hair and a trimmed beard sat on it while wearing what looked like a red military uniform adorned with many medals. As his cape flowed down his entire seat, King Burn looked straight at Kaminski with a very strict stare.

"Natasha, I am very disappointed in you. Your past actions have shown some lack of favorable results."

Trying her best to accommodate to the situation, Kaminski took a silent breath, then stood up straighter in an attempt to be professional.

"Your majesty, I understand that disobeying orders are a huge issue here, but I want to let you know that what both Sergeant Yin and I did out there was entirely on my decision. I find no regrets sir, so please punish me as you see fit."

Kaminski saw that the king in front of her started to slide down his seat into a more comfortable position. Kaminski silently scoffed at this, ready to do her best to tolerate what the King will say next.

In a more relaxed tone, King Burn said, "That is not the issue here. Why won't you return my calls? And stop calling me by that title; I told you that you can just be yourself when we meet like this."

Kaminski felt her temper start to rise again. Having a lax king who seemed to have a soft spot for her and her soldiers wasn't something she was comfortable with, especially when it created some rumors of a non-existent relationship. For the people, it was good news for they approve, but Kaminski just sees it having an opposite effect on her.

"But aside from that issue, I heard that Yin was ordered to have his Railgun removed. Why would we want one of our VARI super weapons to be stripped from the only one who can use it without dying?"

Kaminski immediately responded with, "I forbid it because a 40% survival rate does not mean he will live after using it again. I would prefer not to have one of our best soldiers become cannon fodder anytime soon, sir."

King Burn went into deep thought after hearing this news. After several seconds has passed, he took out a remote and pressed a button on it. Several monitors came up from behind his chair and showed a recording of Yin turning into his dark form and using the Railgun during his battle against the spider droid.

"Well, he might as well have kept it since it's not a secret anymore. After using it, some of the higher ups from various institutes saw this and gave me 'lovely' comments about it for the past few days over several holo-chats."

Kaminski nodded at this and understood the stress that the king went through. Even if it has been a couple years since Burn's participation in some unfortunate events, a lot of people still held onto the fear and hatred for what they were blamed for.

"The ones from the Schnee Dust Company were the more aggressive ones today. However, thanks to the evidence that you brought back, especially that laptop you generously left for us back at the beach, the situation was handled."

Snapping his fingers, the laptop that Kaminski retrieved appeared on a robotic limb from behind his chair and was handed straight into the king's hand. As he looked at it fondly, he said, "Opening the screen led to one conversation that led to them hanging up on me a minute later. Politics may be fine, but our straight methods can still shut up even the most finest of them all."

Kaminski imagined the situation and tried to stifle a laugh, something she was not willing to show the country's beloved, yet annoying, king. King Burn saw this and smiled, letting Kaminski know that she is going to regret letting him see that later.

As he kept smiling, King Burn said, "So will you still not accept your promotion as the Colonel of the army? Major Lieutenant has a nice ring, but I would think that a more professional position with better pay would be good for both you and the boys."

Switching back to her normal disposition, she replied, "Everybody prefers to call me by that title since they believe that describes me the best. Personally sir, I'll keep it for as long as they want me to be the Major Lieutenant and if it lets me go out into the field every once in a while."

King Burn smiled at this, knowing that Kaminski got her popular title thanks to the loyal and benevolent service that she has given to both the nation and its people for many years.

Tapping on another button on his remote, King Burn said, "Well, there is another matter we need to discuss. Someone from Beacon wishes to speak with you, and it's a recent contact of yours."

As one monitor moved into Kaminski's viewpoint while showing a screen of a call being made, Kaminski widened her eyes as she knew who King Burn was talking about.

"_Oh crap, don't tell me it's that stuck-up Goodbit-."_

"Hello Major Kaminski. It's…a pleasure seeing you still alive since we have last spoken to each other."

Kaminski looked at the monitor and saw Professor Goodwitch giving her an emotionless look. As Kaminski stared back while folding her arms, she felt herself feel several years' worth of animosity building inside her.

"Well, hello to you too Professor Goodwitch. What would the teacher of a bunch of students want with me, a commanding officer taking care of the nation's elite army?"

Professor Goodwitch replied, "Well, it is my duty as a teacher to make sure all of our incoming students are under good care without having to deal with some issues, like making a mad dash through borderland securities."

Kaminski replied, "So are you calling because you want to see how **my **student is doing? Professor Goodwitch, there's no need to worry. He's ready to show that any other training you try to give him will always be insufficient compared to my own."

Professor Goodwitch looked to one side with a sound of shuffling papers while saying, "Whatever you see fit as sufficient. Anyways, the main concern of this call is to let you know that more papers will need to be signed by you."

As a small grin formed across her lips, Kaminski said "You want more paperwork, rather than get our signatures from a holo-message? Would this be related to your unnatural fear of getting directions from a holo-pad? I know how lost you are when you try to survive outside of the stuffy confines of your office during one of my visits."

Professor Goodwitch glared at Kaminski, then coughed before saying, "No, the paperwork is there to confirm that your student is not holding any dangerous weapons on him. After seeing the latest 'hate' video online, we would want to make sure that Burn is not sending something like that into our academy."

Kaminski gulped as she remembered the video King Burn showed her, then noticed Goodwitch giving her a look. It was the same look that she used one time when saying 'You screwed up, so you'll have to take responsibility.'

Kaminski couldn't help but softly growl at the thought before saying, "Alright, I'll have them signed and sent over. Is that all you want from us?"

Nodding her head, Professor Goodwitch said, "Yes, so if it is alright with the both of you, I'll be taking my leave. Your Majesty, Major Kaminski."

As Goodwitch slightly bowed her head towards King Burn, she looked at Kaminski and gave the tiniest, but noticeable smirk before disappearing from the screen. Kaminski felt elated at this and tried to calmly look back at King Burn, despite her growing annoyance.

"So, Major is it? You haven't been called that ever since you took the promotion to keep an eye on Yin. "

Kaminski kept her calm, relieved to know that at least it was King Burn saying it rather than Professor Goodwitch, who meant it as an insult to her.

"And judging by the look on her face, I'm guessing that she called just to rub that incident in your face, correct?"

Kaminski frowned and replied, "If you want to put it that way, then sure. I'm just glad to see that Yin wasn't identified to be the Berserker on the video. Whoever recorded that event, he or she must have only wanted to get proof that we have another budding Berserker on our hands."

King Burn and Kaminski remained silent at this, both pondering about what Kaminski has just said. After several moments, King Burn looked at Kaminski and asked, "So, aside from proving that I was wrong about keeping the Railgun, is that everything you want to report to me?"

Looking at him with a confused look, Kaminski said, "Isn't that my line? You were the one who called me here in the first place, so I'm supposed to wait until you dismiss me."

King Burn coyly smiled at this as he excitedly said "Oh, that's right! Natasha, we still have to discuss the arrangements that you missed several days ago. The dining hall is cleared for the evening, so why don't you and I….."

Kaminski bit her lip, knowing that she walked right into that one. Before she could think of anything to stop this, one of the monitors started to beep on the throne.

The king looked back at the monitor and frowned for the interruption, while Kaminski drew a sigh of relief, delighted to see a possible escape from this situation.

As the monitor came on, the face of a soldier appeared and said, "Major Lieutenant Kaminski, we have received sightings that Yin is heading to 'that' place again. Do you want us to stop him?"

Feeling worried with this report, Kaminski asked, "That depends, is the weather there changing anytime soon?"

Looking at another screen nearby, the soldier replied, "Yes, we're expected to have a hurricane hit the region later this evening, so barriers will be up soon."

Kaminski cursed under her breath when she heard this. After taking a second to think, she looked back up at the monitor and said, "Alright, don't send anybody to get him; I'll go out and drag him back in myself."

"Roger, don't be out too long Major Lieutenant. We don't want you stuck out there in this weather again."

As the soldier cut off transmission from his monitor, Kaminski turned to look at the King of Burn. His face showed disappointment as he said, "Fine, you can go get him. I'll just find a better evening to invite you over."

"Thank you sir, and if you want to talk, please wait until I'm off duty."

Kaminski turned around and ran out of the throne room. When she left, King Burn let out a sigh as he thought, "_Just when she started to drop the formalities_."

* * *

Kaminski ran towards the exit of the city, worried as she saw a bad omen in the form of dark clouds gathering in the sky above. As she got out of the city's exit, she saw a familiar steel wall start to appear from the ground ahead of her.

"_No, the barriers are going up! Argh, if I'm going to make it, I'll have to take a jeep. No, that's too slow, maybe if I can climb over the mountain with Silver Shadow, I can…"_

Deep in thought, Kaminski was shocked when she felt a strong tug on her arm. Trying to get out of the hold, she turned around as she said, "Let go! I'm on urgent business and I need to…"

Kaminski turned to see Yin standing there with a concerned look on his face as he grabbed onto Kaminski's arm to prevent her from going forward. Surprised to see Yin there, Kaminski stopped talking as she tried to make sense of the situation.

"Yin?! Wait, what are you doing here?! Didn't you just leave to go out to 'that' place again?"

Yin responded with several hand gestures. When he was done, Kaminski said, "Oh, so you got back a while ago and took a walk around the city before coming back in? That's great, just awesome soldier."

Feeling vanity weighing down her mind, Kaminski realized that the sightings she was told about earlier were taken when Yin got back and was walking around the city.

Relieved, yet irritated, she saw Yin make more hand gestures in a rapid motion.

"No, it's nothing. We should head inside before Mother Nature slams us into the ground again."

Nodding his head, Yin went inside as Kaminski followed behind him. Looking to her back, she saw that the steel walls have reached halfway up into the sky, soon forming one of the many dome-shaped barriers installed in each city.

Looking out further to the place where she knew Yin has gone to visit, she slowly shook her head in sadness as she turned and headed back to the city's entrance.

* * *

Yin and Kaminski walked into a building that had the words, "Burning Passion," on the colored sign above it. When they got inside, they could see that the tavern was busy again tonight.

All over the brown-colored place, people were sitting in chairs or standing up while talking amongst themselves with a moderate level of noise. The second floor of the building wasn't that much different, aside from the silence brought upon by exhausted soldiers who just finished their shifts.

After looking around for several seconds, Yin saw Gear sitting at one of the tables, waving his hand at them while steadying himself on his wheelchair. Smiling at the sight, Yin walked up to the table while Kaminski headed to the large counter that was at the middle of the room.

Sitting at the table, Yin heard Gear say, "So, 13 more times before you're finished, right?"

Yin nodded his head at this and saw Gear sigh as he said, "I understand why you need to do this, but I wish you would stop sooner than 13 missions. Every time you go there, it depresses me and mostly the Major Lieutenant. Knowing her, she's probably going to get…"

"Alright, I brought water for all of us."

Kaminski came to the table and set down two large cups of water while setting down a larger cup full of brown liquid in front of her. As Yin and Gear took their cups, Gear looked at Kaminski and asked, "Is that supposed to be water? Cause if it is, then you should get it purified before drinking something from the sewer."

Glaring at Gear, Kaminski said, "Don't be smart Gear. You should know this is beer, and I'm going to drink every last drop to my heart's content."

Before Kaminski could take her first sip, Yin stopped her from raising her cup with one hand while using the other to present her a device he took out from his pocket. Staring at the device, Kaminski realized that it had the picture of the acceptance letter to Beacon that Yin got several weeks ago.

"Okay, so what does this letter have to do with me drinking?"

Yin pressed another button and a screen of a sound player came up on the screen. When he pressed the 'play' button, a familiar voice started to come out from the device's speaker.

"Hey Yin, um, congratulations on making it to Beacon. You know, not a lot of Burnians get to go outside of the land because, you know, a lot of people out there hate our guts. This is a good chance for you to get an opportunity to be free; to experience an adventure that I never got the chance to really enjoy when I was out there."

Kaminski realized that the voice speaking these soft words was hers. As the recording kept playing, she noticed that the people in the entire tavern became eerily quit as they also listened in.

"*Sigh*, what I'm trying to say is that I'm proud of you. And if you ever want something reasonable for me to show that gratitude, then just let me know, okay?"

As the recording ended, Yin saw that Gear had some mixture of a shocked and happy expression on his face while Kaminski's face was bright red with eyes showing some kind of murderous intent.

Pointing at the drink and making a motion for her to throw it away, Yin felt nervous when Kaminski's hand started to shake. Before anything else could happen, the people all over the tavern started to laugh and cheer.

One man on another table yelled out, "Yeah! That's our Major Lieutenant; still the ferocious mother wolf that we came to appreciate after all these years!"

A Faunus with large cat ears loudly responded, "Mother wolf?! Don't you mean mother hen?! Ever since she took those kids of hers in, she's been spending most of her time making sure they get good rest and food before going to work to take care of the rest of the soldiers! I don't want to sound jealous, but I wish I had a mother just like her!"

The people around started to laugh and cheer harder, enjoying the words that perfectly described one of the good points of the person they knew as Major Lieutenant Kaminski.

Kaminski was laughing at this point as well, trying to shake her embarrassment off before turning back to Yin, who was now nervously making the same gestures as before.

"_Please don't kill me, please don't kill me. Oh gosh, please don't kill me when this seems to be the only way to stop you from getting drunk depressed again."_

Yin smiled when Kaminski dropped her shoulders in defeat and sat up while taking the glass of beer with her. After going to the counter and back, Kaminski brought back a large cup filled with red liquid.

As she took a drink from the liquid, Kaminski said, "Well, if you're going go that far just to stop me from getting drunk tonight, then I'll just enjoy some soda. Consider this my promise fulfilled, Yin."

As Yin happily nodded at this, Gear said, "Well, I'm also happy to see you stop drinking, Major Lieutenant. That would mean that I wouldn't have to clean the restroom tomorrow morning."

Kaminski looked at Gear and said, "You know Gear, you can call me 'mother' when I'm off duty. Or 'mom,' since it seems easier to say it that way."

"Alright, good to see you're not going to mess up the restroom again, mom."

Yin let out a small laugh while Kaminski just ignored the comment and aimed her attention on a silver-haired waitress with wolf ears bringing over a tray of food.

"Here you are, three plates of the usual and one plate of rocket cherries for desert."

Looking at the plate of large bulky cherries, Kaminski said, "I think there was a mistake. I didn't order these rocket cherries."

"Oh, don't worry. Those are on the house; consider it my form of 'gratitude' for all of you being our customers," said the waitress. She looked at Yin and winked at him before walking off to another table to take their orders.

As Gear watched the waitress walk away, he said, "That wolf waitress is at it again. Yin, you still don't understand why she's like that only when you're here, do you?"

Yin looked up as he was stuffing his face with a piece of fish into his mouth. Gear saw this and shook his head, slightly annoyed with his brother's show of ignorance and disgusted from the food hanging from his mouth.

"Whatever Yin, since you still have that talking problem, you could probably never keep a girlfriend since all she'll do is give up on you when she tries to understand what you're saying."

"Gear!"

Kaminski looked up at Gear, angry for letting out such a blunt comment. Yin, however, let out a couple of hand gestures as he finished eating his fish.

Gear brightened up as he and Kaminski saw this and happily said, "See, Yin agrees. I was just stating a fact; there's nothing bad to feel about what I said."

Kaminski looked at both of her boys before saying, "Fine, just eat. We need to get home soon if we're going to start early morning training again."

Nodding their heads, Yin and Gear ate in silence. As they ate, Kaminski looked at Yin, slightly sad from knowing that Gear's earlier comment probably hurt him more than beyond what Gear understood it to be.

* * *

Yin and Gear came out of the tavern, full from eating their dinner for tonight.

As Gear kept messing with the toothpick in his mouth, he said, "Well, those rocket cherries tasted pretty good. It's a good thing that you came over tonight, Yin. One useful thing about you is that you can get us some free desert."

Yin nodded with a smile and leaned against the wall near the tavern doors while waiting for Kaminski to finish paying the bill.

"Hey, let go of me!"

Looking towards the source of the voice, both Gear and Yin saw that the Faunus waitress from earlier was surrounded by three men, with one who had a tight grip around her wrist.

"Shut up! Now my buddy here says that he wanted to take you out, but you turned him down. He's a hard working miner who toils in the Bond mines every day, so the least you could have done was accept for one time!"

The waitress kept struggling as she said, "Try your luck with some other girl; I don't have time to mess with a pig like him on my free time!"

The waitress shot a kick into the miner's chin, making him let go of her wrist. As she stepped back, another one of the miners came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck, putting her into a neck hold.

The third miner picked up his injured friend, who looked mad as he rubbed his sore chin. Glaring at the waitress, he said, "You're going to pay for that. When we're through with you, you're going to wish you said yes."

"Hey, leave her alone!"

Two of the miners looked behind them while the third one kept a tight grip on the struggling waitress. There stood Gear in his wheelchair while Yin was standing right beside him as he cracked his knuckles, ready for combat.

One of the miners laughed as he said, "A crippled kid in a wheelchair is telling us to stop. Why should we stop when you don't have a chance at helping yourself?"

Right as the comment was finished, Gear suddenly pushed against his wheels and head straight for the miner. When he got close enough, he let out a palm strike right into the man's chest. Pulling his hand back, he brought up his other hand that was holding a hammer. Gear raised it into the air and brought it down to strike the man's knee.

Gear's victim fell to the floor, holding both his chest and knee while he was in pain. His tried to help out, but Yin moved before he could get closer to Gear and punched him straight in the face. As the strike let out a loud crack, the unconscious man fell to the floor with a loud thud as blood started to leak from his nose.

The man holding the waitress tried to move back with her in his grasp while stuttering, "S-Stay back! Otherwise, she's going to get it!"

Gear replied with a glare while flicking several shiny objects from his fingers towards the man's arm. The man cried out in pain and let go of the neck he was holding. Looking down on his arm, he saw several screws were imbued into it.

As the man looked up, he saw the waitress was in front of him, letting out a menacing growl as she slowly pulled back one leg.

"If you still can't take the hint, then let me imprint it right up your fat ass!"

The waitress kicked the man straight in his gut, making him fly far down the street that was behind him. Satisfied to see him gone, the waitress brought up a hand to massage her red neck.

"Uh, excuse me, but are you alright?"

Turning around, the waitress saw Yin and blushed a bit as she looked into his red eyes. Trying not to act too flustered, she said, "Y-yeah, thanks for your help. I could have taken them, but today just wasn't my day."

Picking up her hand, she said, "By the way, my name is Luna. Sorry for lack of introduction for all the times you've been there, but things were always busy at the tavern."

Yin looked at the hand and shook it without saying a word. Feeling a bit nervous, Luna said, "Oh, and congrats on getting into Beacon. I can't deny that I'm jealous, but you of all people deserve to represent our nation as you go there."

"What you say is fine, but it's kind of rude to assume that my mute brother is able to talk at all, don't you think?"

Luna jumped at the sound of the voice, then looked down to see Gear looking at her in disdain while sitting on his wheelchair. Feeling embarrassed for her mistake, she said, "I-I'm sorry. I kind of knew your brother was mute, but some of the other tavern folks said that he chats with you and your mother a lot."

Shaking his head, Gear said, "That's because we know motion language like he does. Unless you're a mind reader or something of that nature, then 'chatting' with this guy would be pointless for you."

Luna started to feel terrible at this point as she felt stupid for not noticing this sensitive detail. Before she could apologize, Yin let out a couple of hand gestures while frowning at Gear. Gear sighed as he saw this and said, "Alright, I'll do it."

Looking at Luna with what looked like an apologetic face, Gear said, "I'm sorry for saying something blunt like that. Yin doesn't have a chance to express his situation as much, so please don't feel bad ….There, you happy?"

Yin nodded, although he was slightly disappointed by Gear's lack of emotion in his apology. As Yin looked up, he saw Luna write something down on a piece of paper with a pen.

Handing Yin the paper with numbers on it, Luna said, "If you have trouble with talking, maybe you and I can type it instead. Here's my number, so mind if we 'chat' sometime while you're off duty and at Beacon?"

As Luna looked at Yin with a smile while hoping for a nod, Yin looked at the paper, then straight at her and shrugged his shoulders. Yin slowly walked around Luna before hurriedly walking away in the direction of home.

Luna stared in shock and confusion, not sure if what she saw was a flat out rejection or another form of communication that she didn't understand. Before she could think further about this, she heard Gear say, "Well, I knew that was going to happen; it's just Yin's weird attempt at being considerate."

Luna turned to Gear as he said, "You ever wonder why he hangs out with the only people who knows motion language? That's because we had years to practice it while a lot of people out there doesn't have the time to learn it or even care about doing it."

As Gear rolled past Luna, he calmly said, "I'm not exactly sure why he cares, but he prefers that people shouldn't be bothered by this fact. So unless you give the same effort that we gave in understanding him, I suggest that you be satisfied to even be able to talk to him at all."

Looking at Gear's retreating form as he tried to catch up to Yin, Luna felt unease at what Gear told him, unsure of what to do with this information.

Far behind where Luna was standing, one of the miners that Gear attacked tried to get up while reaching for a gun that was in his pants.

Before he could take out the weapon, a boot came out of nowhere and stomped on his arm. Grunting in pain, the man looked up to see that the boot came from a very angry Kaminski.

"Oh crap, M-major Lieutenant Kaminski! "

As Kaminski kept giving the man a death glare, she took out one of her Silver Shadows and slowly released four wires that tied around each part of the gun's barrel.

"Those were my boys who were trying to help the lady you assaulted. If I were them, I would leave you in pieces rather than see you commit something disgusting like that again."

Kaminski pulled up one gloved finger, making one of the attached wires come up and slice one part of the gun's barrel off.

"But it looks like you already received your punishment, but not get the lesson, so here's a lesson for you. The next time I see you do any of this kind of crap, I will hunt you. And when I find you, you're going to wish. I. didn't'."

As Kaminski finished her last word, she pulled each strand of wire from the gun, slicing off each part until only the trigger of the gun was left.

The man was looking at Kaminski in fear at this point as Kaminski pulled up her boot from his arm.

In a deep angry voice, Kaminski said, "**Get out of my sight, before I reconsider and hang you by these wires, for however long your neck can stay attached to your body**."

The man scrambled to his feet and ran down the street with his friend, who had a bloody nose from Yin's punch. As they kept running, they picked their unconscious friend who Luna kicked and kept running down until they couldn't be seen anymore.

Sighing, Kaminski took out a cigarette and lit it as she thought, "_For a nation known for its camaraderie, we sure have some unsightly men running on our streets_."

* * *

Yin stared at the stars above, which were portrayed by the dome barrier's artificial sky. Despite being fake, Yin took in the sight as he tried to relate it to the real starry sky.

"_The endless sea of darkness filled with specks of light. Hm, I wonder if the sky at Beacon will look better than this?"_

As he kept staring, he heard something come up onto the roof he was sitting on and turned around. Behind him was Kaminski climbing over the roof's edge while holding two cans of liquid in one hand.

Walking up to Yin, Kaminski threw him one of the cans and Yin snatched it from the air. Looking at the can, he saw that it was Kaminski's favorite beer that she would only drink on special occasions.

"Drink, you and I are just going to relax while Gear is doing his tech work in his room."

Yin shrugged, then popped open the can before taking a large sip out of it.

"_Drinking from a can tastes so much more appropriate than drinking from a pitcher glass; nice going Major Lieutenant."_

Yin reveled in the taste and looked beside him to see that Kaminski did almost the same thing, only take a bigger sip than Yin's.

When she finished her large sip, she crushed the empty can and threw it behind her before lying down on her back. As she got comfortable, she said, "So Yin, broke another heart today? Could have at least called her when you and Gear came back home early."

"_Sure, break her heart now rather than later. Just like how I can break everything…else."_

Yin shook his head as he took another sip from his can. Kaminski sighed as she said, "I know, it's hard for you to have any relationships. It's particularly hard for a special Faunus like you, so don't take it rough, okay?"

Silence ensued as both Yin and Kaminski kept looking at the fake sky above them, barely hearing the thumps made by the hurricane hitting the barrier from the outside.

Turning to her side to look at Yin, Kaminski said, "So, 13 more times before you can stop going back to that graveyard?"

"_13…more times. Yeah, I guess she could say…something….like that."_

Yin simply nodded and took another sip from his can.

"I would tell you to stop, but the last 12 times you went there shows that even I can't stop you from breaking that vow you made. For an obedient soldier, you sure are stubbornly disobedient when it comes to this issue."

"_Whatever…just whatever."_

Yin just kept nodding, showing no other emotion as he kept looking at the sky.

"Yin, turn around and look at me."

Yin turned and saw Kaminski looking at him with sad blue eyes. Yin only looked back with his red blank eyes, something Kaminski seemed to take note of while shaking her head.

"You have those same eyes again. I just hate it when I see how empty they are. They're just as empty as when I first found you and after that accident happened. Is that why you make those eyes, because you think back on those days?"

Yin remained motionless, feeling stiff as the memories of his past years flashed through his mind. They were the same memories that he lived with every day, despite having the choice to leave them behind.

Hearing no response from Yin about her statement, Kaminski sighed and reached into her pocket. As she took out a cigarette, she noticed that Yin didn't react as he looked back up at the artificial stars.

Lighting the cigarette, Kaminski put it in her mouth and took a long drag out of it. After she was done, she crushed the stick in one hand and threw its pieces into the air.

As Kaminski got up from her spot, she said, "Alright, I get it. You're in a strange place again, so I'll leave you to your thoughts. Just make sure that you don't stay up all night; we still have training tomorrow before you depart for Beacon Academy."

Yin nodded his head, never once having his gaze leave the sight of the stars. As he kept a strong gaze, he felt something familiar start to form around his heart.

Yin heard Kaminski climb over the edge of roof while quietly saying, "I hope someday, you can come to terms with what happened to you. Do it not just for yourself, but for both Gear's and my own sake."

Hearing that phrase almost pushed Yin out of his emotional prison. The same one he had made ever since he was cleansed by both lightning and rain many years ago.

When he sensed that Kaminski was gone, he laid his head against his knees as pain surged throughout his entire body.

Despite his pain, Yin held it in. Even when there was nobody else around to bear witness to his reactions, Yin just kept holding it in, trying to not let the pain of his prison suffocate him into doing something he considered as regret.

As his pain increased, Yin remembered someone fondly smiling at him with a bright face. That memory alone made him try not to let his own self break from the prison to relieve and face the shame he bore once again.

"_Yin, that's such a cool name. I think that name meant something like 'shadow' from the old etymology records. That makes me think you're the shadow of a mountain. Why? Because Burn is surrounded by shadows of strong mountains, and I think you'll be the same for all of us in Squadron 0."_

* * *

A/N:

I know, more corny situations and failed attempts at making things emotional, but I'm trying to get the backstories straight before the entire gang gets introduced to the main plot stories.

I'm not sure if I could make this clear in the story, so I'm just going to say that FRAME is meant to be like the body retainer used for working out. If that still doesn't make sense, the best image I can think of is the body restraint that Takeda Ikki from History's Mightiest Disciple used.

So yeah, Yin is going to be a strong, yet, strange character with a pretty bad past. I think I might be torturing my OCs a bit too much, but they'll get something good by the end of all this… I think.

Luna might become a recurring OC later, but I don't have too many plans for her, so don't think about it too hard.

References:

-Silver Shadows are the gloves that Kaminski wears. Those gloves were actually inspired by various characters who used similar weapons, but Jeno's Echeleon (Black Cat) helped create some of descriptions for it.

**Next time: Oswin, The Human Warrior**


	7. Oswin, The Human Warrior

Chapter 7: Oswin, The Human Warrior

A/N: A big thank you to all who have kept up with this story so far. For my first fanfic, I feel grateful for your views, and I cannot wait to deliver once the first chapter for the main story is finished.

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content.)

* * *

_**He once stood among the stars that shined during the world's darkest time.**_

_**Now the nameless warrior fights alone, seeking and protecting the remnants of his heart.**_

On a vast barren land filled with jagged rocks and an endless sea of sand, a young man wearing a black leather jacket over a white shirt was riding on his dark blue BETA, **B**ike **E**nabling **T**errain **A**ccess. As the wind from the air blew hard against his short spiky hair, he felt relaxed as he cruised towards the setting sun.

As Oswin kept riding with his silver visor protecting his eyes from the clouds of sand, he saw that he was approaching what looked like several dots forming in the distance. Their features were covered by the dust clouds of sand and darkness of the upcoming evening, making Oswin wait until he was closer to identify them.

When he was close enough, Oswin saw that they were buildings of a very small settlement, probably not occupied by more than thirty people. Those buildings formed a circular boundary that created a line separating its streets from the surrounding desert.

"_Well, the buildings seem old, but also refurbished with new materials. I guess some new folks decided to settle here. Poor choice; they're just asking for a massacre by a horde of Grimm."_

The sound of distant gunfire and howling filled the air as Oswin finished his thought. Slightly satisfied, yet saddened, from knowing he was right, Oswin sped up his vehicle and made his way along the outskirts of the settlement. Riding a little further down a path, Oswin saw two shadows run across the path ahead of him.

"_Hm? What's that?"_

Oswin tried to focus on where the two shadows went, not noticing a third shadow, revealed to be a Beowolf, come out from the window of a nearby building and jump towards where Oswin was at.

Oswin saw this and tried to swerve his bike out of the way, but he saw that he couldn't make it in time. Placing both feet onto the bike's seat, Oswin jumped into the air, just in time before the Beowolf came crashing into the bike.

Oswin was able to somersault during his descent to the ground and land on his feet. He reached into his belt and took out a short sword with a dark-blue blade. Throwing it in an arc towards the Beowolf, Oswin saw that the blade slashed right through its head before flying back into his hand like a boomerang.

As the headless body fell on top of Osiwn's bike, Oswin dusted off the sand that gathered in his black hair. As he finished, Oswin tried to look for the two shadows again. He saw movement heading towards an abandoned building standing at the outskirts of the settlement.

Heading to that location and looking around, Oswin saw that it was another Beowolf backing a small child towards the building's wall. As the Beowolf slowly moved in for the kill, the child slumped onto the ground, shaking in terror from his doomed fate.

Sighing at the sight, Oswin used his other hand to take out another short sword, one that has a golden blade. With his twin blades in hand, Oswin threw both of them, making them fly in wide arcs through the air.

Hearing the sound of the incoming blades, the Beowolf turned around in time to see flashes of blue and gold slice through its head and chest, cutting it into several pieces. Both blades flew on and returned back into Oswin's hands. Oswin sheathed both swords back into his belt and walked over to where the fallen child was at.

When Oswin reached him, he saw the young child had blonde hair while wearing a brown baggy hat on top of it. The child was also wearing rags and sandals, which were strange choices to wear for the cold weather.

"Are you alright?"

The child looked up with a disgusted face and nodded while trying to not look back at what remained of the Beowolf turning into gray ashes. As the child tried to get up on his shaking legs, Oswin started to walk back to where his bike has fallen at.

"H-Hey, wait! Excuse me mister, can you listen to what I have to say?"

Oswin ignored the child and kept walking until he reached his fallen bike. Pushing the dead Beowolf's body off of it, Oswin examined the vehicle and saw that nothing broke when the Beowolf collided into it earlier.

"_Well, it's still intact. If I just pick it up and get it started again, I can go back on my merry way."_

Oswin heard something run up behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the child was standing there, huffing with hands over his knees as he tried to recover from his physical fatigue.

The child looked up and blurted out, "Please, I need your help! Everybody living here is being attacked by a bunch of Beowolves!"

Oswin mentally scoffed at this news, sick of knowing that he was right again. Turning his attention back to his bike, he said, "No surprise there. And I suppose that you're going to think that this random stranger is going to help you?"

The child replied, "You fought against those Beowolves pretty well, so I'm sure you're strong enough to help us. And… well, we don't live anywhere near a place we can ask for help from. Really, you're the first outsider that I saw all day."

Oswin tried to set his bike back up as he said, "Well, even if I was strong enough to fight those Beowolves, I wouldn't want to help you or anybody who would live in such a place like this."

The child looked shocked as he exclaimed, "Why not?! We're in trouble, and people should help each other when they're in trouble!"

Raising three fingers into the air, Oswin placed each one down as he said, "No money, no relevance, and no point in doing it."

Seeing the child confused by his explanation, Oswin motioned his head towards the settlement as he said, "Judging by the look of your clothes and the poor conditions of the place, the people here wouldn't give me any money for my service. Second, I'm on a time crunch, so I would rather leave than waste time helping the likes of you."

Oswin was able to raise his bike back up. He swung one leg over the bike's seat and started to turn on the ignition. While he was doing this, the child started to look angry as he soaked in what Oswin had just said to him.

"That's not fair! People are dying and you're just going to leave us alone because you're too selfish?!"

Annoyed, Oswin looked down at the kid from his seat and darkly said, "Well, as for my third point, even if I save both you and them, all of you will end up dying after I leave."

The bike roared to life and Oswin put his visor back over his eyes as he said, "Think about it. If you keep trying to make a life out here, then you're as good as dead because you're living in a Grimm infested area. And I'm sure you and everybody else are too stubborn to leave a place you just recently called home."

Oswin placed both hands on the bike's handles and prepared to press on the throttle. Right before he could do it, the child ran in front of the bike and raised both of his arms outwards, intent on not letting Oswin pass.

Shouting over the roar of the motorcycle, the child yelled, "Please, you're the only hope we have! If you can't help us now, then how can we have a chance to try and do what you think we should do?!"

Oswin stopped himself from pressing the throttle as he mulled over the child's words. In deep though, Oswin felt sympathetic to the child's situation, remembering how he was in the same situation once before.

"_But it was different then. If I knew I was going to make those mistakes, I wished he just left me to die. What would helping this child be good for if he's also a goner like the rest of them?"_

As Oswin kept thinking, he saw that the child slightly drop his arms, probably feeling hopeful from seeing that Oswin hasn't left for some time. Slowly placing pressure on the throttle, Oswin asked, "What's your name kid?"

"It's Jamie. So are you going to help us?"

Slowly leaning into his bike, Oswin replied, "Well Jamie, you do make a good point."

Jamie's eyes widened in glee as he heard those words and lowered his arms all the way down.

"But I'm afraid it's still a no. You should just go somewhere safe and hope that the Beowolves don't find you. And if you get out of this mess, I hope you can find another way to live on in this barren wasteland."

Taking advantage of Jaime's surprise, Oswin quickly pressed on the throttle and rode past Jamie onto the path behind him. As Oswin kept riding, he heard Jaime yell, "Fine! Be a selfish meanie! Run away like a coward; I'm sure there's a better person out there than you who would help us!"

Oswin kept riding on despite feeling the sting from those words. As he kept driving further away from Jamie, he felt something ache in his heart. Ignoring the feeling, Oswin rode on, hoping he could get to his location before he was late.

* * *

Oswin rode to the top of a hill made of rock and sand before stopping his bike. Looking back towards the settlement, Oswin could still hear the gunfire and howls that were now accompanied by the screams of people.

Trying to ignore the noise, Oswin leaned forward to ride on ahead, but the bike didn't move as he willed for it to happen. Surprised by this, Oswin looked down at his hand and saw that he couldn't close it on the throttle.

"_Darn it, move! Why can't I close it?! Wait a minute, am I…am I regretting what I just did?"_

As the screams and the howling behind Oswin got louder, Oswin felt his entire body unwilling to move aside from allowing Oswin to look back at the settlement, now growing darker with the falling sun.

Oswin didn't move for some time as he tried to reason how his current objective is more important than going back. But his reason still didn't move his body, making his inner turmoil harder to deal with.

"_Achilla, I don't understand. Why did brother continue to fight for a bunch of people who don't even realize their mistakes in the first place? It would've been better to leave them alone so they can suffer for it!"_

Frustration grew in Oswin as he remembered this conversation, knowing that the end of it is going to lead him to his final decision.

"_Oswin, you should know your brother is a kind-hearted warrior. If he ever leaves mankind to face the troubles of this world, including ones of their own creations, he can never allow it. That's why he fights, to become a hero for them like no other."_

Seeing the memory of his beautiful instructor in mind, Oswin saw her standing in front of the same desert around him while having one hand on a golden spear beside her.

"_So, what about you Oswin? When you fight your own battles, will you fight it to protect something, just as your brother and I have done?" _

Oswin felt his hand move, allowing him to regain the ability to pull on the throttle again. With determined eyes now set before him, Oswin brought up his scroll and opened up a screen of a map.

The bike moved forward and started to head down its original path, leading it in the opposite direction of the settlement under attack.

* * *

"_That stupid meanie! Fine, he can just run away. But I'm not going to run away, I can't leave mom and dad alone all by themselves!"_

Unwilling to leave his loved ones behind, Jaime ran back towards where everybody was at after failing to convince the stranger to help them. As he reached his destination at one part of the settlement, he froze as he saw a terrifying sight.

In the area ahead, Jamie saw many Beowolves terrorizing the town as they attacked the residents. He saw some men trying to fight off the Beowolves with rifles and pistols, but their attack wasn't enough to push back against the overwhelming force.

In every other place that didn't involve fighting, only slaughter was left as the Beowolves chased after those who were helpless to stop them. Each and every person tried to run for their lives, but they could only go so far before the Beowolves caught up and ended them on the spot.

"_Oh my gosh, this has to be a nightmare. Please, this has to be a nightmare! I want to wake up and go back to helping mom and dad work in the shop! I would rather work than see this happen to our one chance at having a life!"_

Jamie walked back in shock, unable to keep a straight mind from what he saw. No longer finding strength in his legs, Jamie ended up collapsing onto his knees while staring at the ground.

As Jamie stayed on the spot, he heard something growl deeply at him from above. Looking up, Jamie saw that the noise came from the mouth of a Beowolf that had the blood of its previous victim dripping onto the ground.

Shaking in fright as he gave in to despair, Jamie closed his eyes after seeing the Beowolf slowly lean over with mouth ready to gnash into his neck.

"_Well, I got rescued by a selfish meanie only to find myself dead again. But…even if I hate him for it, I wish he didn't do that. I wished he stayed to help us." _

Shaking harder from the thought of dying, Jamie waited for his life to end, no longer hoping for a solution to the ensuing madness.

"_If he did, then it would have been awesome. Yeah, he definitely looked like someone from the stories; he looked, no, he could have been…"._

"…_.just like a hero."_

A familiar metal sound rang in front of Jamie. Remembering where he heard it from, he opened his eyes to see the broad back of the same stranger who saved his life yet again.

The stranger turned his head to look at Jamie with hardened silver eyes as he said, "Jamie, you should go find your parents. I'll take care of things here and lead the rest of the Grimm back into the desert.

As Jamie sat there flabbergasted, he heard more sounds of metal clanging in the air, followed by pained howls coming from falling Beowolves. He saw flashes of blue and gold fly back into each of Oswin's hands, who placed both blades at his sides into what looked like a battle pose.

"Do it now Jamie. You don't want to be here for what I'm going to do next."

Taking in the sight of the stranger's strong figure and nodding at his words, Jamie got back up and started to head back to his home. As he ran away, he called out, "Can-can I know your name?"

Walking in a different direction, the stranger yelled out, "It's Oswin Takeo, and I'm just the guy who felt like kicking some Grimm butt; I'm not here to help a bunch of idiots out."

Jamie looked back to his front and ran at full speed. Despite what Oswin said, Jamie smiled as his entire being feel alive again, fueled by the hope that Oswin has brought with his arrival.

"_Oswin Takeo, it sounds weird but…it sounds like something that a hero would say. And coming in to save me from the evil monsters; I-I was just rescued by a hero."_

* * *

Oswin slashed through another incoming Beowolf as he ran through the pack that amassed outside of the settlement's borders. Glowing in a silver light, Oswin's body blasted forward as his entire body let out an explosion.

Aura Burst, a technique that Oswin uses to add an explosive power to his actions and create external bursts of energy through parts of his body. He also uses it to travel through the air or across the ground to quickly cover distances.

Using this same technique, Oswin was able to slash with little effort through several Beowolves while instantly putting himself out of the attack range of the ones who were still alive.

Oswin continued to do this while heading in one direction until he reached into a large barren part of the desert. Willing his Aura to calm down, Oswin turned around and placed his twin swords forward, ready to take on the approaching Beowolves.

As he analyzed his situation, his mind said, **"Assessment:** **30 Beowolves approaching position. Difficutly: Easy. Advice: Maintain position and prepare to color the desert in black and red**."

Oswin felt annoyed as TIM, his **T**actical **I**nsight **M**ind, told him what he already knew. As the first Beowolf of the pack approached, Oswin raised his blade to prepare his response. Suddenly, the Beowolf abruptly stopped in its tracks and lifted its nose to smell the air.

Oswin looked behind the Beowolf and saw the others doing the same thing. After sniffing for several seconds, the Beowolves whimpered and starting running towards a different direction, making a full retreat away from Oswin and the settlement behind them.

Although Oswin was slightly relieved to see that he has completed his objective, he tensed as he started to make sense of why the Beowolves have ran away. Anything that can make the Grimm run away like that could only mean 'they' are here.

Looking at his surroundings, Oswin saw dark figures rising up from the desert's sand as darkness radiated from their bodies. When the bodies rose to their full length, arms and legs took form and started to move in clumsy motions. As more features on the bodies appeared, the figures started to show more human-like features as the 'eyes' on their 'faces' opened, showing only white eyes that lacked any pupils.

They are known as the Victuss, a namesake that truly represented their appearance as husks of a dead human being. Oswin knew that although these were classified as Grimm, they were nothing like the ones that regularly roam this world.

"_If Aunt Wren and my past experience are right, then these aren't the _few_ of 'man-made' Grimm_ _that is out there."_

When their 'eyes' looked at Oswin, all of the Victuss opened their 'mouths' and let out an eerie screech. Oswin placed both of his twin blades on top of the other, fusing them into a large double-sided broadsword with a hole running down the middle. Oswin gripped the handle of Daylight and got ready as the Victuss brought out shadows from their hands, each forming an outline of a weapon.

One figure dashed at Oswin and slashed at him with its 'sword.' Oswin easily blocked the strike with his own blade in one hand before pushing back his enemy and letting out a second strike that struck across its body. As the Victuss' body fell to the ground, more came charging with 'clubs' and 'knives' in hand, only to meet the same fate as Oswin slashed through each of his enemy.

Three more ran towards Oswin in unison and swung down their 'claymores'. Oswin brought up his blade to meet all of the weapons and keep them in a deadlock, preventing both Oswin and the attackers from moving.

While he struggled against his predicament, four more Victuss came from all directions and brought up their 'lances,' intent on running Oswin through with each of their weapon's sharp ends.

Oswin kept his hold as his body started to glow. Soon, an Aura Blast erupted from his body and blasted all of the surrounding Grimm back several feet. While the blast wasn't enough to destroy the Grimm, it left them dazed, allowing Oswin to split his sword back into twin blades.

Oswin heard something approach him from behind with thundering steps, making him turn around. He saw a giant version of the Invictuss come at him with a huge 'axe' in tow, then lift it high into the air, intending on slashing Oswin in half with its upcoming strike.

Oswin ran up to the Grimm and jumped towards its body. As he got closer, Oswin brought down one of his swords and pierced it into the Grimm's body. The Grimm let out a roar of pain as Oswin used each stab of his blades to hoist further up the body. When he got to the shoulder, Oswin quickly let out two strikes at the giant's wrist next to him. The giant lost its control over its raised axe, making it collapse on its head as Oswin jumped out of the way and landed back onto the sandy ground.

As Oswin landed, he parried a projectile that tried to embed itself into his head. Looking at where the arrow came from, he saw that there were more Invictuss on one hill of sand shooting at him from afar with 'arrows' shot from their 'bows.' Oswin put away his two swords, reached into his back, and took out a brown collapsible bow.

Oswin extended the bow, changing it from its smaller form into a large yumi without a string. Dodging another arrow, Oswin took his fingers and grasped the air between the bow's limbs, making a string of energy form under the folded fingers.

With string stretched back to full extent, an arrow made of energy also appeared, forming in between Oswin's fingers. Taking aim, Oswin let it go and watched as the arrow flew through the air and head towards one of the archers. It pierced through the shadowy head, making the body fall in a slump.

Oswin drew another bow and shot it before repeating the procedure again in a rapid motion. Soon, all of the Invictuss archers fell to the ground, with each having multiple arrows stuck in various parts of their bodies.

Hearing something thundering behind him again, Oswin rolled out of the way as a large axe crashed into his original spot. Oswin got into a crouching position and saw that the giant Invictuss from before was back up while missing the hand that Oswin cut off.

As the giant charged while swinging its axe in fury, Oswin pulled back at the bow's energy string again, drawing an arrow and keeping it there as it started to glow in a brighter light. After dodging another swing from the giant, Oswin released the arrow and watched it explode right at the giant's face.

The Invictuss that Oswin blasted away earlier were back on their 'feet' and charged at him again. With one hand, Oswin reached into his belt and threw out his blades at two of the Grimm approaching him from both sides. As the blades sliced through them, the other Grimm behind him continued their charge, but was abruptly stopped as the twin blades came back and struck through the bodies.

Taking both returning blades back into his belt, Oswin moved past the giant's lifeless body, which barely missed Oswin as it crashed into the ground. As Oswin kept walking on the field clear of any sign of Grimm, Oswin's TIM alerted with, **"Battle Conclusion: Not over. Incoming: 30 Invictuss."**

Oswin saw more of the Invictuss appearing from the sand, trying to use the advantage of their numbers to surround Oswin with no escape. Oswin only let out a sigh as he put away his bow and brought up his reformed broadsword near his head.

Slowly, red energy formed around the blade and started to release a small blast of wind. While the Grimm were busy pulling themselves out of the sand, the red energy soon made a humming noise as the color grew darker and the energy started to expand outwards.

Soon, it looked as if Oswin was holding onto a huge crimson-black blade of energy, now releasing whirlwinds that made the sand around Oswin be blown away. As the blade of energy reached an adequate power, Oswin raised the broadsword up as words started to form from both his mind and mouth.

"_**As the Flames of the Setting Sun Burn**__**"**_

"**Crimson**-"

Oswin brought up above his head the large blade of energy, now extending several feet larger than its original length.

"_**Let its fall bring the Demise of My enemies"**_

"**-Crash!"**

When Oswin swung the blade down and out in a full circle, all of the Grimm in the area disappeared in a flash of dark-red light. As the light reached the ground, a resounding crash rang through the dark air of the twilight sky.

* * *

Oswin walked back to the settlement, leaving behind the smoking area filled with gray ashes fluttering in the air.

As he approached the settlement, Oswin saw that there were several people with worried looks standing behind the cover of large objects and buildings. Looking over who was there, Oswin saw Jamie behind the corner of one building next to an older woman.

"_Well, it looks like he found his mom. Even if he is an annoying brat, I'm happy to see that he's okay."_

As Oswin got closer, he heard the people murmuring among themselves with the words like 'Incredible' and 'Terrifying' being the only audible thing he could hear.

Oswin stopped as he reached the group of people, with both sides saying nothing to each other. Jamie ran from behind his mother and walked up to Oswin. Raising up his hand and smiling, Jamie said, "Thanks for helping us, Oswin. I'm happy that you came back."

Not expecting the thanks, Oswin thought, "_And he's grateful too. That's nice for a change, unlike most people I had to work for."_

Taking the hand in his own, Oswin gave his own small smile while replying, "Well, I told you that I didn't really come to help you. But for whatever it's worth, you're welcome. Glad to see you're still alive."

The child slightly blushed at this and tried to cover it with his hat, but Oswin didn't understand the meaning behind it which left him confused. Suddenly, a blast of cold wind came from the desert and hit everybody who was outside the settlement.

As Oswin brought up his arm to cover his face from the wind, he saw Jamie's hat fly off, revealing long strands of hair streaming down to his shoulders. Surprised by this, Oswin took a closer look at Jamie's face and realized that he made a mistake on one crucial feature.

"W-wait, you're a girl?"

Trying to keep her hair in place, Jamie looked up at Oswin and angrily said, "So what if I am?"

Before Oswin could say anything else, he heard the distant sound of engines coming from the sky. Looking up at the noise, he saw a familiar golden aircraft descend with its four wings flapping slowly. The large aircraft came to a stop in midair with its thrusters on to keep it steady.

As the giant airship, the Radiant Dawn, came closer with floodlights shining over the dark settlement, Oswin didn't enjoy the sight as much as he wanted to, knowing that its approach meant one thing.

Over a loud speaker near the top part of the aircraft, a loud voice yelled, "OSWIN SIGMUND TAKEO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! DO HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LATE IT IS?!"

His sister was mad, and making her mad was never a good thing. Training was going to be evident of that in the coming days.

Oswin sighed again as he saw a circular platform from the ship descend upon his position. When the platform was high enough for him to jump on it, Oswin got ready as he bent both of his knees.

"Are you leaving so soon?"

Looking back at Jamie, Oswin saw her stare sadly at him while standing there, ignoring the wind as it made her hair flow wildly behind her.

Understanding the look, Oswin hastily thought, "_I know, I know. It's kind of bad to leave all of you behind like this. But... I guess I can leave some things behind before I go."_

Oswin reached into his jacket, took out both of his twin swords, and dropped them blade first into the sand below him.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I might have actually stayed if things were different, but I have a home to return to as well. The only thing that I can do is give these to you."

Jamie took out both blades by their handles with a hard tug, admiring their designs and colors that glowed from the floodlights. Smiling at her interest in the weapons, Oswin took out a white scroll from another part of his jacket and dropped it into the ground.

"And here is a scroll with some notes on how to use those blades. Their names are Sky and Sun; use them well."

Before Jamie could say anything about Oswin's gifts, Oswin jumped from his spot and flew towards the platform. Grabbing the edge of the platform with both hands, Oswin lifted his body up as the platform returned to the side of the Radiant Dawn.

Looking up at Oswin's shrinking form, Jamie yelled out, "Will I ever see you again?"

Oswin only waved in the air with a larger smile than before and disappeared over the airship's edge. The airship started to turn, then rise higher into the sky until Jamie could only see it as a dot in the far distance.

* * *

Oswin let out a sigh of relief as he felt the airship rise into a higher altitude. Looking around the open deck in front of him, Oswin headed towards the cabin's entrance, ready to turn in for the day.

"You gave her both of your blades? It's kind of a waste, since they're going to die if they don't get out of there."

Oswin looked to the side and saw a woman standing on the deck's railings near the entrance. Wearing a large blue overcoat over her red martial arts gi, the woman let her long black ponytail sway in the wind while letting out a smirk, seemingly happy with Oswin's arrival.

Heading towards the door, Oswin replied, "I was given the same opportunity once, so no, I don't think it was a waste for me to present a similar gift."

Reaching for the door's handle, Oswin was about to open it when the woman thrust out her leg across the door and slammed it into the opposite wall. Sighing at his denial of entry, Oswin asked, "Alright, what is it Ouka? Are you mad at me again or is this about something else?

Maintaining her smile, she excitedly said, "Don't tell me you forgot what happens when I visit your home. I'm here for a rematch, right here and now."

Oswin responded by letting out an Aura Burst from his left hand, forcing Ouka to quickly jump away towards the middle of the airship's deck. After landing, she got into a crouching position while placing her hand onto the red handle of the scimitar attached to her sash.

Frowning at Oswin's reaction, Ouka said, "If that was a yes, then throwing that cheap shot isn't the way to do it."

Oswin opened the door as he said, "I'm not in the mood for doing that today; we can add up your next loss tomorrow when I feel better."

Frustrated by this remark, Ouka angrily replied, "Well, excuse me for not being able to beat the mighty Oswin Takeo in a one-on-one match since last year! I guess being your brother's lackey finally got to your head. Maybe it has something more to do with living up to your title, hunter of the underworld!"

Oswin stopped right before he was closing the cabin's door. Slowly turning around, Oswin took a look at Ouka, who was slightly nervous, yet looking at him with defiant eyes.

"_So angry that you need to bring that up? Well, I guess it's only natural; I haven't been very fair to you since you last visited."_

Looking impassively at Ouka, Oswin said, "Alright, I'll accept your duel, so let's make it quick."

Turning from a worried into an excited look, Ouka excitedly said, "Really?! Alright, let's do this!"

Ouka took a stance while Oswin got back outside and bent his knees with both hands placed near his waist. Placing one of his feet right behind him, Oswin said, "But if I win, then you need to do me a big favor."

Ouka took a minute to ponder on this before replying, "Fine, but if I win, you'll finally take the inheritance off of my hands, does that sound fair?"

Oswin nodded, despite knowing that the weight of his favor cannot be heavier than Ouka's own favor. Now knowing that he needs to absolutely win this fight, Oswin got ready to make the first move.

"Hey Oswin, catch!"

Oswin turned around and raised his arm into the air to catch a long object thrown into his hand. Examining the object, Oswin recognized that it was Pierce, a spear with streaks of orange and yellow streaming across the body until it reached under the red spearhead.

Looking up at the balcony above him, Oswin saw his black-haired brother, Tetsu Takeo, wave a hand as he shouted, "I'll be supervising this match, so good luck to you both."

Nodding his head as thanks, Oswin turned his attention back onto Ouka as he swung his spear around his body to warm-up before placing it by his side, ready for combat.

Ouka smiled in excitement at this as she said, "Great! Now we can both say this was a fair fight, so prepare yourself!"

Dashing towards Oswin, the battle-hungry Ouka swung her scimitar out and had it clash with Oswin's spear.

* * *

"Ouch, don't touch it too much, it stings that way."

Oswin winced in pain as a cotton swab with a dab of rubbing alcohol ran over a cut on his cheek. Sitting on a bed with the irritated wound, Oswin tried to ignore the pain while focusing on the face of the blond-haired nurse taking care of him inside the airship's medical bay.

The nurse, wearing a teal blouse with a white apron covering it, reached over for a rolling table full of medical supplies and brought it closer with her one hand. Putting the bloody cotton swab down onto the tray beside her, the nurse said, "Sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time. I don't get a lot of practice with the smaller wounds, so I'm sorry if you're one of the few people I ever had to do this with."

The nurse's apologetic smile made Oswin feel bad for his complaint. Before he could apologize, a voice said, "Don't apologize in almost every sentence, Karla. Since you're the one taking care of his wounds, you need to be more assertive and remind him of his position, like this."

Taking the cotton swab from the tray, an older woman with violet hair wearing a white doctor uniform violently swiped the swab over the cut. Oswin ended up yelping in pain while the woman strictly said, "This is how we clean wounds. Be glad that we don't ask you to do it yourself."

Oswin felt his irritation grow with his pain, but Karla reached over and placed a small bandage over it as she said, "And here is something to help prevent any infection from forming. Don't take it off until it's healed."

Oswin felt calm as he saw Karla's smile. Returning the kind gesture with his own smile, Oswin said, "Sure, I'll keep that in mind, nurse."

"It's great to see that the both of you get along, but did you forget that you're treating me too?!"

Both Oswin and Karla looked over to another bed near them and saw Ouka struggling against the chains binding her to the bed. With her head being the only part of her body that can move, Ouka kept shaking in her restraints while glaring at the doctor approaching her.

"Get me out of here! This has to be some cruel form of medical practice if you need to bind my entire body!"

Taking out a needle and squirting some liquid into the air, the doctor said in a monotone voice, "You always struggle when we administer medication to every loss you suffer against Oswin. Also, you haven't had your flu shot in almost a year, so we need to have that out of the way."

Staring at the needle in horror, Ouka struggled harder, almost making the entire rickety bed shake loose from the bolts that attached it to the floor. As the doctor sat down and raised the needle high in the air, Ouka cried out, "W-wait, why are you aiming it like that?! Can't you just give the shot like a normal doctor?"

Bringing down the needle and injecting the contents into Ouka's body, the doctor replied, "Nope," as Ouka screamed out in pain.

Oswin stared in horror at one of the cruel, unusual practices that Dr. Alysida is known on this ship for. Looking at Karla, Oswin saw that she maintained her smile, unsure if it was there to hide her own fear or display that she didn't mind the image of brutality.

Taking a clipboard on the bed and writing something on it, Karla looked up as she said in a bright voice, "Finished, you're free to go. Make sure to get some good food and rest before you fight again, otherwise you might end up collapsing from exhaustion."

Karla's bright smile seemed infectious, as it made Oswin nod with a bright smile of his own as he got off the bed. Heading towards the doorway, he said, "Thanks again Karla. It was nice to be under the care of a great nurse like you again."

As he headed to the doorway, unaware of Karla's blush at the comment, Oswin saw Ouka jump out of her bed unbound and run towards the doorway. Dr. Alysida, now holding the chains that she removed from Ouka's body, didn't seem to care much as she loudly said, "Don't forget that your next appointment is in another few months along with your physical. That goes for you too Oswin."

Oswin looked at Dr. Alysida and nervously shook his hand good bye before rapidly walking towards the doorway. Trying to push down his memories of his last physical in mind, Oswin didn't see that he passed by Ouka, who was waiting for him beside the doorway.

"Yo, don't you want to talk about arrangements of your favor, Oswin?"

Turning around, Oswin said, "Sure, but this one is going to be a big one. I'll send you the details about it later, so get ready to occupy a place for a while."

Raising her eyebrow at this, Ouka said, "So another guard favor from you? Alright, so how long am I expected to stay there this time?"

With eyes aimed at the ceiling above him, Oswin nonchalantly said, "Oh, probably for a while, maybe up until the day we're expected to be at the academy."

Oswin gasped as he felt Ouka grab him by the collar of his jacket and lift him as she growled, "You want me to guard a piece of land until the day before both you and I are expected to be at Beacon Academy?"

Nodding his head, Oswin was brought back to the ground below him. Ouka huffed as she walked down the hallway while saying, "I don't take my word back in a duel, so I'll accept it this one time."

Relieved from hearing this, Oswin started to turn around when he heard Ouka finish with, "But we better be on the same team when I get back, so don't make yourself available to any weaklings, okay?"

Looking at Ouka straight in the eyes, Oswin said with a serious tone, "We don't know how the teams are going to be formed when we get there, so don't assume we have a choice. But if it were up to me, I can't imagine a stronger team than when the two of us work together."

Startled by Oswin's declared statement, Ouka huffed and went around the corner, saying "Yeah, so don't you forget it!"

Smiling at this, Oswin continued down his part of the hallway, unable to hear several large breaths being taken by a flustered Ouka.

* * *

Oswin stood on the ship's balcony and looked at the moon filling the area in its luminous glow. As he kept staring at the sight, he heard someone approach him from behind with small metal thumps banging on the floor.

Sitting beside him, the person said, "Wow, I haven't seen you work so hard in the navigation room to help regular people in a long time. Had a change of heart after knowing you're going to Beacon?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Oswin replied, "Maybe something like that."

Looking to his side, Oswin saw Tetsu, who was wearing a red jacket and black jeans, stand beside Oswin. Watching the sight before them with his red scarf fluttering in the wind, Tetsu said, "So, does your 'rival' know that she's going back to Oasis?"

"What?"

"Oasis, it's the name of the settlement you helped today. It's a nice name since it seems like it'll survive long enough to become a home for those people in the desert, thanks to what you've set up in motion."

Trying not to let the compliment get to his head, Oswin replied, "It wasn't that different from what you did for me, so you can also take credit for that inspiration."

Smiling at this, Tetsu leaned against the railing in front of him as he said, "By the way, Sephy is busy taking care of Morgan and Ken, so you're off the hook for today. It was smart of you to send back the bike, otherwise she might have thrown a fit."

Sighing at the news of this, Oswin was about to let the tension in the back of his mind go when Tetsu continued, "She's still going to 'punish' you during her turn tomorrow, so you're not out of the fire just yet."

Tetsu saw that his little brother got into a foul mood, making him laugh in good-nature as he said, "Hey, don't worry about it. You're going to leave for Beacon sometime later, so Sephy is probably going to give you more time to play with Morgan."

Feeling light-hearted from the mention of his niece, Oswin calmed down as Tetsu continued, "Morgan is going to miss you. Aside from Karla, you're the only other person who she seems to play well with. Knowing that makes me jealous to see that she would rather play with you, even when I'm back from my trips."

Oswin turned to see his brother smiling, once again showing that despite what he said, he said it out of good-nature, like he does with most things. Oswin cherished that part of his brother, but he also hated it when that attitude makes Tetsu concerned about the well-being of other people.

"Did you get in contact with Professor Ozpin? The last time we talked to him, he said he wanted to personally speak with you concerning your interest in going to Beacon, even if you're already qualified."

Running a hand over his face, Oswin said, "Yeah, but he and I decided that we're going to meet on a day that seems good. Apparently, he wants to talk to me face-to-face; said something weird about how he wanted a good look at the face of your younger brother."

Laughing at this, Tetsu said, "Oh, I see. I guess you'll see him whenever you two are ready to meet each other. Both Sephy and I made sure to have a good talk about him regarding our circumstance, so be honest with him when you meet him, alright?"

Oswin nodded at this and turned around to head back inside the ship. As he took a few steps forward, he heard Tetsu ask, "So why did you even decide to go to Beacon in the first place? Are you trying to look for something or is the training that you're getting here not enough?"

Choosing his next words carefully, Oswin replied, "Well, you and sister always said that I needed to get along with people apart from the ones we know. So why not go back to where you both knew a lot of people before starting the family business?"

"Ah, I see. You make a good point; Beacon would be a great place to make friends, especially with people around your age."

Making sure that Tetsu felt fine with his answer, Oswin tried to go through the door, stopping halfway when he heard Tetsu say, "But Oswin, don't go there for any other reason, alright?" Frozen at the doorway, Oswin slowly asked, "What do you mean? Why would else would a warrior of my age go to a training academy?"

After pausing for several moments, Oswin saw Tetsu walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder. With his good-natured smile replaced with a serious expression, Tetsu said, "Oswin, you don't let the atrocities of others drive you down a path to avenge it. You should know that by now."

Slightly angry from what Tetsu said, Oswin replied, "I don't know what you're talking about. If you're asking me to forgive and forget, then maybe that's a bit much, since we already suffered enough."

"You're still mad about Uncle Kazuya, aren't you?"

Mentioning the name already brought Oswin up to a boiling point, making his vision see white as he struggled from lashing out at Tetsu. Keeping a calm exterior, Oswin said, "Uncle? I don't remember having a traitor like him as an Uncle. He's only another target for me to…"

The grip on his shoulder slightly tightened as Tetsu firmly said, "You need to stop there Oswin. That's no way to talk about family, let alone treat them in such a manner."

Feeling the anger tearing through to his face, Oswin struggled to keep calm as he replied, "Family?! How can you say that when he left us to commit all of those atrocities? He even tried to kill you when you went out to stop him. That mercy lost your left leg and right arm, so why, brother?!"

Pointing at Tetsu's arm and leg revealing bits of metal on the realistic-looking limbs, Oswin tried to make a point, only to hear Tetsu reply, "Because that's what family does for each other. When a person gets lost along the way, family is one of the few things in life that can help you get back on the right path. And I really do believe in that."

Oswin looked away in disgust after hearing that and pushed away Tetsu's hand from his shoulder. As Oswin angrily shouted, "You're impossible!" he ran down the hallway in the airship and went to his room, leaving behind a frowning Tetsu.

Running into his room and slamming the door shut, Oswin collapsed onto the bed in front of him and raised his Aura-covered arm to punch the wall above the bed. As his fist slid down to reveal a dent surrounded by many other dents on the wall, Oswin remained still on his bed while waiting for his anger to blow over.

"_Che, don't talk about your family that way? Is he stupid?! Kazuya is going to pay for everything he did to us! For everything he did….along with everybody else out there."_

Feeling tired from his day, Oswin drifted into a dreamless sleep. By tomorrow morning, he would be rested and ready for training, despite holding onto the weight of the past on his shoulders.

* * *

A/N:

And here is the final team member of ONYX, Oswin Sigmund Takeo.

I think I mentioned that this will not be an AU. I found out that may not be true anymore. Since RWBY has such an open world that can introduce a whole bunch of things, I can see that some of the things that I put in might contradict with that at some point.

I won't show the fight scene between Ouka and Oswin because that fight is a fierce one that isn't meant to be shown at this stage of the story. Not the best of fights, but definitely something to give even the RWBY characters to worry and/or be excited about.

This isn't the final chapter and the next one might not even be it as well. But things might get shorter, so if the length has been bothersome, then enjoy that when it comes.

References:

-Invictuss: Latin for 'dead.'


	8. Beginning of a Legend

Chapter 8: Beginning of a Legend

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content.)

* * *

_**Legends, it's funny how they're just really popular stories.**_

_**It can also open up the possibilities of creating new ones today. – Xavier Excelsior**_

Oswin walked up to the store, 'From Dust Till Dawn,' and entered through the door. As he walked up to the counter, he saw an old shopkeeper rustling through a new shipment of Dust behind the counter.

As Oswin reached the front of the counter, he asked, "Um, excuse me, I'm here to pick up a weapon order for Tetsu Takeo."

Looking up from the box and at Oswin, the old keeper said, "Oh, a weapon order? Well, there is one that came just a while ago from the Röschen company. It's in the back, so if you wait a minute, I'll bring it out in a jiffy."

Oswin sighed as the owner slowly walked to the back, apparent that his old age will probably make him take a while to get it.

As he waited, Oswin thought back on what happened in the past couple of hours, trying to remember why he was on this boring assignment in the first place.

* * *

Oswin raised his broadsword to meet the light-blue iron of another sword striking at his head. As the blade was raised again into the air, Oswin repeatedly brought his broadsword up to counter the next several strikes.

Leaping back to get away from range, a woman wearing green and golden armor pursued with the intent of running Oswin through with her sword. Oswin quickly struck against the approaching stab with his blade and brought it up again to strike, but miss, against the retreating figure.

Oswin panted as he leaned on his blade to support his exhausted figure, wary of the woman with short blond hair approaching him. As clanks sounded from her armor with each step, her silver arm and leg gauntlets let out a bright glare as they shined under the sunlight.

While Oswin took several more breaths of reprieve, TIM announced, **"Alert: Incoming enemy is unmatched in current situation. Assessment: Retreat or risk total annihilation."**

Shaking his head to cancel out the mechanical voice, Oswin heard the figure say, "Stand up, Oswin. We have an additional hour before your sparring practice is over. Do you want to waste time by resting in such an inappropriate manner?"

Struggling to keep up with the swordsman's demand, Oswin shakily brought up his sword to block an incredibly strong strike from the light-blue sword. The force of the attack sent Oswin's body flying towards the wall behind him. As he crashed and slid down, he felt his conscious almost slip from the pain he felt on the back of his head.

"Alright, if you're in such a hurry to die, then take this!"

Now dashing towards Oswin in blinding speed, the swordsman raised her sword and brought it down to strike at Oswin's head.

Dashing out of the way with Aura Burst, Oswin saw the sword slice into the wall. The blade carved from the top of the steel wall all the way to the floor like it was butter. Seeing this as his chance to counterattack, Oswin immediately propped one foot on the floor and unleashed another Aura Burst from it, causing Oswin to catapult at the swordsman with sword ready to strike.

"Response is too slow!"

With blinding speed, the swordsman somehow brought up her sword to defend right before Oswin's attack met hers. Unwilling to give her the upper hand, Oswin let out another Aura Burst to increase the force of his attack. The clash of two blades caused a large gust of wind to fly through the area around them.

Despite Oswin's valiant effort to defeat his opponent, he saw that he couldn't break through her defense even with his strongest strike. He felt the opposing blade force him into the air, throwing his body across the deck of the airship. The armored woman looked up and readied her sword while glaring at Oswin's prone form on the floor.

"Typical, you are still not strong enough to take me on with my mediocre strength and force me to use much of my Aura. How can you ever expect to overcome opponents with this same strength?"

Oswin shakily got on his feet again, visibly exhausted from his sweaty face and loud pants. Using whatever strength he had left from the hour of sword practice, Oswin raised his broadsword up while struggling to keep it there.

Oswin's sword instructor and sister, Sephora Braveheart, gently flowed into her own stance, preparing to continue her relentless attacks. With one step forward followed by another, Sephora was another step away before she could swing down her sword…..

"Mom, are you done yet? Uncle Oswin was supposed to be with me and Karla a while ago."

…only to stop in mid-swing and look at the cabin doorway.

A black-haired girl stood at the doorway, pouting as she used one hand to grip the front of her blue blouse in frustration. Using the other hand to keep the door open, the girl said, "Is the training going to take longer? We were supposed to bake some cake, but Uncle Oswin never showed up to help make the batter."

Putting her sword away from Oswin's raised one, Sephora gave the girl her attention and replied, "No Morgan, training isn't supposed to be complete for another hour. You'll have to wait until we are finished."

Visibly frustrated by this news, Morgan turned around and sadly said, "Okay, I thought Uncle Oswin was going to help things fun while make something good, but I guess we'll just have to do it ourselves."

Oswin raised his eyebrow at this, then looked at Sephora to see her face stricken with guilt. Before Morgan could close the door all the way, Sephora sighed and said, "Fine! I'll let you go for today Oswin. We'll make this up tomorrow after your training with Tetsu."

Sheathing her sword, Sephora looked at Oswin and pointed her thumb at the door as she said, "Go help Morgan and Karla fix up the batter. You might as well make something satisfying through your culinary skills."

Nodding as he put away his broadsword, Oswin took off to the door. Seeing Morgan as he entered, he asked, "Are you sure you want to make your mother guilty like that to get me away from sword training?"

Grabbing onto Oswin's arm with a smile, Morgan said, "Whatever, you made a promise and I want you to keep it with me and Karla. Plus, you now owe me big time; working on that project of yours before practicing with Mom isn't a good idea."

Oswin smiled as he did feel grateful for today's excuse from practice. Following Morgan down the stairs as she tugged on his arm, he could smell something burning wavering through the air.

* * *

"And done. The frosting is finished, so you can take it away now."

Oswin stood up as he looked at the complete cake in front of him. Looking to his right, he saw Morgan pick up the cake and take it to the fridge in another room while Karla was cleaning up the table they used.

Cleaning up his part of the table, Oswin was almost finished when he heard a giggle come from Karla. Looking at Karla in confusion, Oswin asked, "What? Is there something on me again?"

Shaking her head, Karla replied, "No, but I still find it funny when I see the 'mighty warrior' wear an apron just to help with cooking."

Oswin looked down at the pink apron he was wearing. Flustered, Oswin tried to keep his cool as he said, "Well, brother always taught me that I need to look appropriate for the occasion, even in the kitchen. I'm sorry if this doesn't suit me."

Karla laughed at this as she headed towards the sink with utensils that had signs of burned food bits on them.

"Well, it might not fit the image of most people. As your friend, I think it suits you when you're not always wielding a weapon in battle."

Oswin couldn't help but feel warm from this comment. His family and friends have always been the ones he cherished above most things in life. Karla's reminder helped remind him of that.

"Thanks for the fashion tip Karla. The next time I end up arguing with brother, I'll put this on to lighten the mood."

Smiling at this, Karla started washing the utensils. Looking over at her ears, Oswin frowned as he said, "Are you stilling wearing those covers? You need to take them off; otherwise, you'll hurt your ears."

Reaching one wet hand towards the pink ear covers, Karla said, "I know, but I prefer to keep these on. When I go out shopping again, redoing them would be troubleso-."

Karla didn't have time to finish when Oswin walked over and took off the ear covers. Taking them off unveiled two small pointy ears that were red from being cramped in the ear covers.

As Oswin looked over the covers, he said, "See, I told you they were cramped. Look, they're even red. We need to get you something better than these small covers."

Oswin reached over to grasp the ears, but Karla pushed the hand away and said, "Oh, look what you did. Now it's going to be a hassle, wait, hey! Give those back!"

Oswin smirked as he put the earmuffs far from Karla's grasp. As she went after them, Oswin said, "Just put them back on later. And I don't care how much trouble they cause for other people, you need to take care of yourself better, alright?"

"Okay, I get it. Can you please hand them back?"

Oswin handed the ear covers back to Karla as she took them and put them into her blouse's pocket.

Calming down from his tease, Oswin asked, "So, why the cake? We usually don't have a chance to eat sweets unless…."

Karla sighed as she turned off the sink behind her. Wiping her hands dry with a towel, Karla slowly replied, "Yeah, my sister is coming back today. I thought we could have something good to celebrate her return."

Karla turned to look at Oswin, whose face grew dark from hearing the news. Clasping both of her hands together, Karla pleaded, "Please, try not to fight with her. It's a miracle that she was able to visit, so if you can just handle things through dinner, it would mean the world to me. Please?"

Oswin's features softened as he saw Karla let out her 'puppy-dog' face with her clasped hands. Trying not to make the vain promise, Oswin turned around to prevent himself from being swallowed in by the adorable face.

"_Oh gosh, not the puppy-face; why is she resorting to that when she knows that I can't stand that noisy old bird. I have to resist, I have to resi- Ouch!"_

Oswin felt his ankle receive a sharp pain. Looking down, he saw Morgan standing there frowning as she put down the foot she used to kick him.

"Uncle Oswin, I know you and Aunt Wren don't get along, but every time you two fight, it doesn't sit well with mom and dad. So please just listen to Karla and try to behave, okay?"

Oswin felt annoyed with this as he thought, "_Why is it my fault when she was the one starting all of those fights?"_

Seeing both Karla's sad face and Morgan's angry one, Oswin raised his hands in defeat as he said, "Alright, I'll try not to fight. But for anything she starts, I can't take responsibility for what happens afterwards."

Nodding her head in approval, Karla said, "Sure."

* * *

"Die in a lab accident," said Oswin.

"Die in a fire," retorted the long blonde-haired woman.

Oswin and Karla's older sister, Wren Anima, sat on opposite sides of one of the many large wooden tables in a huge dining room while glaring at each other. As Wren flicked her ponytail over her shoulder, she kept an irritated hold on her long black robes with golden bands coloring the edges.

"Failure"

"Rip-off"

"Leech"

"Virgin"

"You don't know that. And it's tolerable for my age, compared to a lonely hag like you."

Wren's glare deepened as she said, "It's by choice; there's a lot of responsibility and work for one who holds the title of 'Grand Master'."

Oswin scoffed at this and said, "Says the so-called 'Master of the New Age.' Whoever makes a simple mistake like sneezing on a bunch of Dust crystals like you did the other day?"

Wren didn't take this well and was about to reply when she felt a book lightly hit her on the head. Looking up, she saw Tetsu smiling down at her as he said, "I see that you two are getting along as well as ever. Can you two share this conversation after we talk through our plans?"

Sighing at this, Wren said, "Fine, I guess 'bonding' time will have to wait until later. Oh, and Oswin, the next time you to take on an assignment like the one from before, try not to leave the spoils behind for me collect."

Furious, Oswin stood up as he cried out, "That was you?! You're why I ended up crashing over the-?!"

"That's enough Oswin. I said the both of you can save this for later, so please, have some patience."

Oswin sat back down in silent fury while he saw Wren stick a tongue out before turning her attention to Tetsu. As Oswin tried to calm his fury, TIM didn't help when it announced **"Point Master Anima. Oswin: 40, Grand Master Anima: 200."**

As the two adults talked, Oswin saw Karla approach from the wall she was leaning on and move over to his side while whispering, "It's alright, you did your best, but she seems intent on causing you trouble today."

Taking solace from not having to take the blame for this, Oswin replied, "Today only? So the other times were really my fault to begin with?"

Looking at Oswin sheepishly, Karla said, "Well, I wouldn't say that. It's just that you always seem to be offended by most of her jokes, so you end up making it a bigger deal than it is."

Oswin couldn't help but be baffled at this. Trying to understand this, he thought, "_What? A joke? Criticizing me and sabotaging my equipment is all a joke to her?!"_

"Oswin, come over here. There's something you need to take a look at."

Getting up from his seat while thinking more on what Karla said, Oswin came over to where Tetsu and Wren was at and looked at the holo-screen that Wren had up in the air.

Pointing at one location, Wren said, "As you can see, we're going to reach Vale's airspace within a couple of hours. Over on this white circle, we're expected to receive a package from the Röschen Company. You, Oswin, are going to go over there and get it."

Crossing his arms, Oswin looked at Tetsu and asked, "Is this alright with you? Usually you're fine with having them deliver stuff onto the ship, unless it's so important that you need someone you trust to go get it."

Tetsu smiled as he said, "Nope, Wren and I think you're the best one for the job because you can get the package and meet Professor Ozpin. He's in the area right now, so you can go meet him after you're done."

Oswin felt slightly shocked, despite knowing that his brother and aunt have been in contact with Professor Ozpin for many years. The memory of the Headmaster made Oswin feel bitter as another image of a person came up in mind.

"If I go there, is Goodwitch going to be there too?"

Tetsu and Wren both gave each other a worried look. After a second of contemplation, Tetsu turned and said, "Yeah, she's been with the headmaster ever since we last saw her. We can't assume that she'll be somewhere else when you go meet him."

Oswin's chest started to tighten up, feeling searing anger from knowing that he might have to meet up with Goodwitch again. Before his anger got the best of him, he saw Wren place a hand on his shoulder and look at him with unusual worry.

"Oswin, I know you're still angry at her for what she did before, but you have to let it go. She was only trying to do what was best for everybody else at the time."

Even if Oswin could care less about why Goodwitch did what she did, he couldn't shake it off. Or rather, he isn't willing to, since he wasn't the only one who Goodwitch hurt that day.

"_But as long as she stays a Professor, I'll be fine with it. For as long as Professor Ozpin keeps her reign of terror away from us, she's fine…for now."_

Nodding at Wren's statement, Oswin asked, "So what am I going to pick up? Hopefully, it's nothing too heavy for me to carry."

Wren's relieved gaze changed into a sadistic one as she said, "Try not to have a headache when you hear this. It's called…"

* * *

"Here you go. One '_Beginner's Luck'_ for a 'Tat-seh Tuh-kee-yo'."

Ignoring the mispronunciation, Oswin took the long narrow box from the shopkeeper and saw the quote, 'Beauty found in dreams,' scrawled across the top. Opening the top and taking out a rectangular object, Oswin examined it and saw that it was made of a black material. Unleashing some part of his Aura into it, Oswin saw his silver Aura briefly encompass the entire object for several seconds before it faded out.

"_Aside from having such a spiteful name, this object is too valuable for it to be in a simple Dust store. Why would brother be fine with just anybody picking up the object from here?"_

As Oswin continued to examine the object, he said to the shopkeeper, "It looks fine. How much do I owe you for this?"

The shopkeeper placed a piece of paper onto the counter and said, "Oh, no worries. The company already sent the payment over with the package. All you need to do is sign this and you're free to go."

Looking over the paper while signing it, Oswin's eyes grew wide from seeing the total balance for the purchase. After writing the last letter of his name, Oswin picked up the package by the strap and slung it over his shoulder.

"_Man, that's a lot of zeros. I'm glad to see that Aunt Netemi is still doing that charity thing, otherwise, I might have thought this was a rip-off."_

Oswin took out his phone and looked at the time. Seeing that he still had another hour before his meeting with Professor Ozpin, Oswin headed towards the back and looked over the 'Weapon' magazines that he found there.

Reaching out for the latest issue, Oswin flipped through the pages and read the contents. For several minutes, he repeated this and became increasingly uninterested in most of the highlights.

"_No, no, no, definitely no. __Yeesh, I can't believe people are focusing too much on looks and less on the design for damage. Nothing has been the same ever since people stopped using the classics."_

As Oswin flipped to the last page, he felt something tap lightly on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw a girl smaller than him standing there with a red hood covering a part of her head.

"Hey, um, is that the latest edition of the 'Weapon' series? If it is, can I take a look at it after you're done?"

Oswin took a second to look at the girl before handing her the magazine. As she happily took the magazine, Oswin said, "Here, but try to avoid the first few pages. It's filled with nothing but disappointment."

Turning his attention back to the rack of magazines, Oswin was about to pick out another one before he heard, "Why do you think that?" Turning back around, he saw that the girl took off her hood and revealed black hair lined with red highlights and a pair of silver eyes.

Shrugging his shoulders, Oswin replied, "Most of the weapons are inadequate for combat. If you look at page four, the tomahawk that the reviewers call 'the axe of the madman' is nothing compared to the ones that I've seen."

Flipping the magazine to the page Oswin mentioned, the girl replied, "Yeah, I can see that. But it still looks pretty cool. See, if you throw it far enough, you can bring it back with the retraction gauntlet that comes with it."

Oswin reached to grab one of the pages and flip it over while replying, "Well, okay. But if you compare it to this one, then it's better when…"

From that point on, both Oswin and the girl continued discussing and even laughing over their discussion of the magazine's contents. And just like that, most of the hour has gone by and still, there seemed no end to the discussions they had going on.

"…you stick it into the Grimm like that. One strike should be enough, so why does there need to be a part that will blow it from the inside out?"

Giggling, the girl said, "Maybe the designer thought adding that would prevent the wielder from shooting the wrong side out."

Slightly chuckling from the strange wording, Oswin looked at his phone and saw that it was almost time to go. Looking at the girl, he said, "It's time for me to go soon. I'm glad that I had something fun to do with you, Ms..."

"Oh, it's Ruby. Ruby Rose."

Nodding his head, Oswin said, "And mine is Oswin Takeo. It was nice meeting you Miss Rose."

Ruby giggled as she said, "You don't have to call me that. You and I look about the same age, so first names should be fine."

Oswin smiled at this and turned to leave when he heard Ruby say, "Wait, did you just move in? I haven't seen you around here before."

Shaking his head, Oswin replied, "I live in the sky, so I'm usually taken all over the world. I just came into town to pick this package up."

As Oswin pointed at the package behind him, he saw Ruby briefly laugh and say, "Wow, you live in the sky? That sounds more fun than living in a house on earth."

Her innocent face expression and comment surprised Oswin, who thought, "_Wow, she actually believes me. I would have found it hard to believe that someone can live in an airship, especially when it's, as Aunt Wren says it, 'flying on steroids'."_

Taking out a phone, Ruby said, "Well, if you happen to fly by again, you can call me and we can hang out here again as friends."

Surprised by the comment, Oswin said, "F-friends, just like that? But, well, I don't really come here that often, so is that alright?"

Ruby smiled and replied, "Sure, I don't usually have a lot of friends outside of Signal Academy who has this much of an interest in weapons. It would be nice if we can have this kind of talk again."

Oswin started getting flustered at this point, unsure of how to respond. Picking out the first thing in mind, Oswin said, "Um, well, okay. I don't mind that, I don't mind that at all," as he took out his phone.

After exchanging numbers, Oswin felt a strange happiness flow through him as he looked at Ruby's contact among the very few that he had on his list.

"Alrighty, that's that…Wait, if you travel around the world, then have you ever gone to a combat school?"

Feeling nervous about his answer, Oswin said, "I was trained by a lot of individual instructors. But I'm actually going to Beacon this year, so I'll hopefully get some good education as I train to become a Hunter."

Ruby excitedly replied, "Really?! That's where my sister is going too! I want to go there someday, but I'm still two years behind before I can get in."

Feeling sorry to hear this, Oswin said, "Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm actually going in a year earlier than most students, so maybe you can get in if you catch enough of their attention."

Astonished from hearing this, Ruby let out a whistle as she said, "That's so awesome, my sister and her friends who are going there are 17. You should tell me all about it when you get there."

Looking at the time, Oswin realized that he was going to be late soon. Turning around while waving his hand, Oswin said, "Sure Ruby, until next time."

* * *

Walking out of the store, Oswin walked past a group of men wearing black suits and bowler hats led by a red-haired man wearing a white suit. Ignoring how familiar the leader looked, Oswin kept walking down the street back to his bike.

"_Friend, I just made a friend today. Even if it's been a while, it shouldn't be making me think so much about it. Has it really been that long?"_

As he set the package on the back of the bike, Oswin turned on BETA and waited for it to bring up its holographic controls.

"_Well, I do have friends, kind of. There's Ouka, Karla, and I guess Jamie kind of counts, but she's way younger than me. Huh, I guess she's the first normal friend that I ever made."_

Smiling from the thought of this, Oswin placed one hand on the controls that appeared and prepared to input coordinates when he heard a loud crash coming from the store. Oswin looked back and saw one of the men from earlier crash through the window followed by Ruby, with two feet planted on his face.

Oswin got off his bike and was about to take out his twin swords when he saw Ruby take out something red and black from her back. As Ruby raised the object onto her shoulder, the object unfolded into a huge scythe with something resembling a rifle magazine attached near the bottom of its long handle.

Spinning the rifle in the air several times, Ruby slammed the sharp edge of the scythe into the ground and pointed the barrel of the scythe at the men gathered behind the broken window, ready to fight them.

Feeling déjà vu from seeing this image, Oswin couldn't help but feel like something incredible was set into motion as he saw this.

"_What am I, a poet? That just sounded really lame."_

Even so, Oswin stared in awe at the sight of Ruby, never having seen anything like it for a long time. Placing his hands near the sides of his belt, Oswin decided to watch and see what happens next.

As Oswin kept watch, he didn't take notice as a voice, different from the one used by TIM, rumbled in the back of his head.

"_**Once again, the sun completes its cycle in the sky. As a new cycle starts, legends of the old shine the way for the creation of a new chapter to be read.**__**"**_

* * *

A/N: Aaaaannnnnd that is it. It is done, the final intro chapter for Team ONYX is set. However, it isn't the last chapter for this story.

For those of you who have stuck with this first piece of writing made by this first-time writer, I thank you. Even if it didn't get a lot of reviews, I appreciate the visitors and those who Favorited and Followed this story.

The next chapter will be the trailer chapter that I talked about on my profile page. It's going to introduce what is going to be in the main story's plot, plus, I plan on adding a new element that I would like some feedback on only by PM.

Also, I am going to revise this entire story. Yes, I am going on a journey to go back and fix the mistakes I found a while after I posted them. (Note: I finished, so unless I plan on doing it again, I'm not going back to read all these chapters.)

As soon as I am done with the revisions, I will post the trailer chapter as signal for the change. I wouldn't encourage you to read all of them again, but I hope to have improved the quality of reading this story by then.

Until then, have a good one. Hope all of you enjoy the last episode of RWBY before the season break starts.


	9. Trailer Chapter

Trailer Chapter

A/N: I thought about putting in a link that would lead to a song that I thought was good with this, but then I changed my mind. If anybody is still interested in listening to it, PM me and I'll send the link.

(**Disclaimer**: Monty Oum and Roosterteeth owns RWBY and all of its original content. I also do not own the music at the link above. )

* * *

(Song: Begin)

Oswin looked around, amazed at the sight of a two-story gray room filled with computers and monitors of all shapes and sizes. Most of the machinery was occupied by people looking at the monitors that showed pictures and reports of various situations occurring at many places.

He saw, then glared at, Professor Goodwitch, who came up on a small platform and stood in front of a large screen. Turning to her side, she addressed the people sitting in the large group of seats that were front of her.

"Welcome, those of you chosen to partake in this special course. As we train all students at Beacon to become future Hunters and Huntresses, all of you are here to take a step further than that."

* * *

_Oswin knelt down as he tied up his black boot and placed his twin swords into the belt of his pants. Looking behind him, he saw Xavier ready his guns next to Yin, who was checking his gauntlets whirring with a low humming noise. Farther in the back of the air jet, he saw Nathan nervously grasp his sword's handle with his fingers, probably anxious about their situation._

_The door of the air jet opened and revealed the structure below them. As he looked down, Oswin shouted out, "Team ONYX, let's go!" and jumped off as he flew into the darkness below him._

* * *

Raising her hand to direct everybody's attention at the large screen, the screen expanded and showed a huge map full of red dots hovering over several landmarks.

"As you know, our world is filled with numerous threats that cannot all be handled by our current number of law enforcers and warriors. As the matters are left unattended, these threats will continue to grow, putting the lives of many people at risk."

* * *

_The area surrounding two figures flew up in flames, revealing numerous places damaged from the assault that happened not too long ago._

"_So, you're a mercenary as well, huh? So am I, for I am the great Clockworks Horoscope; what business would a kid like you have with a grand being such as myself?"_

_Xavier slightly chuckled as he raised both Dante and Vergil up and pointed them at Clockwork, who was sitting on top of a large piece of debris._

"_You should know that I'm after that pretty little head of yours. So give it up, because even a grand being cannot match up to the mercenary extraordinaire, Xavier Excelsior."_

_Putting his cloak aside and revealing two black machine guns in his hands, Clockwork replied, "Oh, you want this bounty? Sorry junior, but I need what is in this head for the future plot. Don't get in my way."_

_As both gunslingers started to glow in blue Aura, Xavier chuckled as he tried to look past the eye sockets of Clockwork's mask to see blue eyes._

_Moving forward, Xavier said, "Well, that's funny. I was about to say the exact same thing. You wouldn't happen to be my…"_

* * *

The screen blinked off the picture of the map and brought up what looked like a roster full of names with pictures of their owners next to them.

"That is where you come in. You will be sent on missions more difficult than what normal students would be given, due to the…difficulty of completing them. That is why it takes students of your strengths and skills to have the privilege of working in an environment like this.

* * *

_Sparks flew in the air as Oswin did his best to attack and defend with his twin swords against the relentless Elektra, who kept striking and dashing at him from all sides with her flaming sword in hand._

_Elektra jumped back and landed on her feet while looking at Oswin who maintained his stance with heavy breaths. Picking up her flaming sword, Elektra flipped up the blade and revealed a large barrel underneath it._

"_Not bad, but you should see when Lady Slayer gets hot; it'll burn your socks off."_

"_Don't you mean 'blow'?"_

_Pulling the trigger, Elektra happily replied, "Nope," as a huge stream of flames came out and flew towards Oswin._

* * *

"So I welcome you all, Venators and Venatrixes. All of you will be on the best hunts that we can offer, so prepare yourselves for the journey of your lives."

* * *

_Weiss looked at Nathan, who was kneeling on one knee while bowing his head towards the ground. While his armor continued to glow in his white Aura, Weiss looked down, trying to carefully analyze the Assistant Contractor before her._

"_Nathan….have we met before?"_

_Looking up at Weiss, Nathan's hair started to turn silver as his ARMR and weapons transformed into a different shade of color. _

"_I'm not sure. That's a question you'll need to ask when he arrives," said Nathan, letting out a familiar and strong voice._

* * *

A large man with green shaggy hair and dark skin came up on the stage. Wielding a massive cannon and placing it over his shoulder, he let out a wild smile as he looked at the students in front of him with glowing golden eyes.

"Sup, all of you will be supervised by the staff chosen specially for this course. Unlike the rest of these teachers, you can expect me to grade you on the amount of ruckus you cause, so go wild. Hold nothing back when you're ready to give it your all."

* * *

_Trying to stop the barrage of missiles and laser blasts, Yin did his best to hold his electric charge and barely survive as his assailant moved forward and shot more of his cannons at him._

_After taking a step forward, Yin fell down to avoid getting slammed by the giant barrel of a huge cannon. When it reached its full length, the barrel retracted back into the warped space that summoned it, disappearing in a glowing light._

_Raising one missile launcher onto his shoulder, Crash shouted out, "C'mon! The last Berserker I fought was a whole lot tougher than you; show me what it feels like to fight one again!"_

_Yin's red eyes started to glow as his skin started to turn darker. Becoming lost to the incoming fury, Yin did his best to delay the change, not noticing a yellow light approaching him from behind._

* * *

"Jaune, do you really want to become a hero?"

After staring at the wall in front of him for some time, Oswin looked back at Jaune who was looking at him with slight confusion and fear.

"Uh, yeah. I know…I know I'm not strong enough, but I want to become a hero, just like my ancestors before me; to defend people from the ones who want to hurt them."

Sighing loudly, Oswin drew his lance from his back as it extended to its full length and aimed the head at Jaune with an angry glare. Jaune quickly drew his sword and shield, panicking as he yelled, "W-wait! What are you doing?!"

With voice full of bitterness, Oswin said, "Don't become that kind of hero Jaune, otherwise, you'll leave me no choice but to become your enemy."

With that, Oswin dashed forward and thrust his spear out, aiming to pierce it through Jaune's head.

* * *

**Arriving At The Daylight**

(Song: End)

* * *

Ruby happily munched through the plate of cookies in front of Oswin at a fast pace, making her pink cheeks bulge out. As Oswin smiled at the cute sight, he saw something from the corner of his eye, looked in that direction, and saw Xavier at a doorway while whispering, "Hey, Boss! We got to go!"

Understanding the urgency of Xavier's call, Oswin hurriedly got up and left, leaving behind a confused Ruby whose mouth was still full of broken cookies.

W-Waif! War arf u coig? Af whaf abof tee Rufee? (W-wait! Where are you going? And what about Team RWBY?)

* * *

**Coming Soon: Whenever I get the first chapter done.**

A/N:

Well, I hope this makes it official that all of the OC's are now in place to take a role in the actual plot line. And yes, the song is from the second part of the Captain America: Winter Soldier trailer.

I might take a break next week, because I had an exhausting, yet awesome, time making this, so be ready to see a chapter sometime later than usual.

I put this trailer chapter up because I wanted to find a way to update the story and let every reader know that. The updates aren't the best, but I did fix some of the writing issues I had back when I started at the worst time ever.

By the way, ONYX isn't supposed in the room at the beginning of this chapter, but we'll get details of that later on.

Even if it doesn't seem like it, Team RWBY, JNPR, and every other original characters are going to be involved a number of times, because what would be the point of RWBY without them?

References:

Venators and Ventrixes are male and female terms for 'hunter' in Latin. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I got it because it looks cool.

The title near the end is actually a play on the song's name, 'This Will Be The Day,' or I tried to make it that way, since Team ONYX is going to arrive at Beacon with my way of showing it. Well, take it as you want to take it, because it's going to be the name of the new story.


End file.
